diff options
Diffstat (limited to '40973-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 40973-0.txt | 6090 |
1 files changed, 6090 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/40973-0.txt b/40973-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..25d2616 --- /dev/null +++ b/40973-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6090 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40973 *** + + UNDER THE STARS AND BARS + + OR, + + MEMORIES OF FOUR YEARS SERVICE + WITH THE + OGLETHORPES, OF AUGUSTA, GEORGIA. + + BY + WALTER A. CLARK, + ORDERLY SERGEANT. + + AUGUSTA, GA + Chronicle Printing Company. + 1900. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +For the gratification of my old comrades and in grateful memory of their +constant kindness during all our years of comradeship these records have +been written. The writer claims no special qualification for the task +save as it may lie in the fact that no other survivor of the Company has +so large a fund of material from which to draw for such a purpose. In +addition to a war journal, whose entries cover all my four years +service, nearly every letter written by me from camp in those eventful +years has been preserved. Whatever lack, therefore, these pages may +possess on other lines, they furnish at least a truthful portrait of +what I saw and felt as a soldier. It has been my purpose to picture the +lights rather than the shadows of our soldier life. War is a terribly +serious business and yet camp life has its humor as well as its pathos, +its comedy as well as its tragedy, its sunshine as well as its shadows. + +As Co. B, of the Oglethorpes was an outgrowth of the original +organization, its muster roll before and after reorganization, with a +condensed sketch of its war service has been given. For this information +I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Frank H. Miller and Mr. Brad +Merry, as I am to the former also for data pertaining to the early +history of the Oglethorpes. + +Aside from the motive already named, there is another which has had some +influence in inducing me to publish these memories. In the generation +that has grown up since the '60's, there is a disposition to undervalue +the merits of the "Old South" and to discount the patriotism and the +courage, the sacrifice and the suffering of those, who wore the grey. If +these pages shall recall to my old comrades with any degree of pleasure, +the lights and shadows of our soldier life, or shall bring to the +younger generation, to whom the Old South is not even a memory, a truer +conception of "the tender grace of a day that is dead" I shall be more +than repaid for the labor involved in their preparation. + + + + +INDEX. + + + Page + INTRODUCTORY. + + Early History of the Oglethorpes 7 + Off to the War 9 + The Laurel Hill Retreat 15 + + CHAPTER I. + + Donning the Grey 17 + My First March 21 + My First Skirmish 23 + My First Picket Duty 29 + My First Battle 30 + A Night Stampede 33 + Three Little Confederates 36 + + CHAPTER II. + + A Change of Base 38 + A Tramp With Stonewall Jackson 43 + Aunt Hannah 48 + A Ride With Belle Boyd, the Confederate Spy 50 + Home Again 55 + Roster of Oglethorpe Infantry 56 + + CHAPTER III. + _Service with 12th Ga. Battalion._ + + A "Little Long" 62 + 12th Ga. Flag 63 + Col. Hogeland's War Diary 65 + The Parson and the Gravy 71 + Rations 75 + + CHAPTER IV. + _Coast Service._ + + A Study in Insect Life 80 + Fire and Fall Back 86 + Skirmishing for Pie 87 + Steed and the Sugar 88 + Our Camp Poet 91 + + CHAPTER V. + + Dalton and Atlanta Campaign 97 + Stripes on the Wrong Side 107 + A Twilight Prayer Meeting 109 + Tom Howard's Squirrel Bead 112 + "Jim, Touch Off No. 1" 114 + A Summer Day on the Firing Line 117 + Saved from Death by a Bible 123 + Battle of Kennesaw 130 + Under Two Flags 137 + Saved from a Northern Prison by a Novel 142 + A Slave's Loyalty 148 + + CHAPTER VI. + _Nashville Campaign._ + + A Christmas Day With Forrest 155 + Gen. Bate as a Poet and Wit 166 + Pat Cleburne as an Orator 168 + "Who Ate the Dog?" 171 + Courage Sublime 178 + + CHAPTER VII. + _The Closing Campaign._ + + An Arctic Ride 182 + A Sad Home Coming 187 + Our Last Battle 190 + Conclusion 200 + Roster Co. A, 63rd Ga. 204 + + ADDENDA. + + Oglethorpe Infantry Co. B 214 + Roster Co. A, 9th Ga., Co. C, 2d Ga. S. S. 219 + + SUPPLEMENT. + + One of My Heroes 225 + Ben Hill and the Dog 229 + The Rebel Chaplain and the Dying Boy in Blue 236 + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + +EARLY HISTORY OF THE OGLETHORPES. + + +On a winter's day in '51, in the old Capital at Milledgeville, Ga., +Howell Cobb, then Governor of Georgia, gave his official sanction to an +Act of the General Assembly incorporating a new military organization in +the City of Augusta. If he had been told that ten years from that date +he would be wearing the wreath of a Brigadier General in actual war and +that the Company, to which his signature had given legal existence would +be camped on Virginia soil, attached to the command of an officer, who +will go down into history as one of the greatest captains of the ages, +he would have smiled at the statement as the outgrowth of a distempered +fancy. And yet such a prophecy would have found literal fulfilment. + +In honor of the founder of the Georgia Colony the Company was named the +Oglethorpe Infantry. Hon. Andrew J. Miller, was its first commander. +Representing some of the best blood of one of the most cultured cities +of the Old South, the company, by its proficiency in drill and its +military bearing soon gained a distinguished position among the citizen +soldiery of the State. On the death of Capt. Miller in 1856, Judge +Ebenezer Starnes was chosen to succeed him. He, in time, was followed +by John K. Jackson, afterwards a Brigadier General in the Confederate +Army. During the captaincy of the last named, the volunteer companies of +the State were ordered into camp at Milledgeville, Ga., by Gov. Herschel +V. Johnson. Capt. Jackson, on account of illness in his family, could +not attend and the Oglethorpes were commanded by Lieut. J. O. Clark. In +the military drill and review, that occurred during the encampment the +Oglethorpes presented the best marching front of any company present. +Mr. Frank H. Miller, then Orderly Sergeant, attributes their success on +this line, in part at least to the fact that nature had failed to endow +him with a full share of what my father was wont to term "legability," +and his shortened step, as Company Guide, rendered it an easier task for +his comrades marching in column of companies to preserve their +alignment. + +On the organization of the Independent Volunteer Battalion in 1857, +Capt. Jackson was elected Lieut. Col., and Lieut. J. O. Clark succeeded +to the captaincy, retaining the position until the Company was mustered +into the Confederate service in 1861. Of the original roll as organized +in 1851, if my information is correct, only Mr. William Richards now +survives. Capt. Horton B. Adams, who died during the present year (1899) +was the last surviving member of the original roll, who retained active +connection with the Company from its organization until its enlistment +in the Confederate Army. + + +OFF TO THE WAR. + +Prof. Joseph T. Derry, who served with the Oglethorpes from their +enlistment until his capture at Kennesaw Mountain; in July, 1864, has +kindly furnished the following sketch of their war service prior to my +connection with the Company: + +"Following the lead of four of her sister States Georgia passed an +ordinance of 'Secession,' Jan. 19, 1861. Gov. Brown ordered the seizure +of all Federal property within the limits of the State, and on Jan. 24 +the volunteer companies of Augusta, consisting of the Oglethorpe +Infantry, Clinch Rifles, Irish Volunteers, Montgomery Guards, Washington +Artillery, Richmond Hussars, and two companies of 'Minute Men,' +afterwards organized into the Walker Light Infantry, with a company of +infantry from Edgefield, So. Ca., and two hundred mounted men from Burke +county, marched up to the Augusta Arsenal and demanded its surrender. + +Capt. Elzey, afterwards a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army, was +in command, and having only a small force in the barracks, he promptly +complied with the demand. + + +ORGANIZATION OF FIRST GA. REGIMENT. + +The efforts to secure a peaceable separation from the Union having +failed, the Augusta companies promptly offered their services to the +Confederacy. The Oglethorpes and Walker Light Infantry were the first +two accepted. On March 18, 1861, the lists for the Oglethorpes were +opened at their armory on Reynolds street. Sterling C. Eve was the first +to enroll his name, and Virginius G. Hitt was the second. + +As the Company had in its ranks a larger number than would be accepted, +married men were excluded, except as commissioned officers. In the +closing days of March, orders were received from the War Department for +these two companies to rendezvous at Macon, Ga. On April 1st they were +escorted to the Central R. R. Depot by all the volunteer companies of +Augusta, while the entire city, apparently, turned out to witness their +departure and to bid them God speed on their mission. + +On April 3rd the First Volunteer Regiment of Ga. was organized with the +following corps of field officers: + + Colonel, James N. Ramsey, Columbus, Ga. + Lieut. Colonel, James O. Clark, Augusta, Ga. + Major, Geo. H. Thompson, Atlanta, Ga. + Adjutant, James W. Anderson, Newnan, Ga. + Quartermaster, Andrew Dunn, Forsythe, Ga. + Commissary, Geo. A. Cunningham, Augusta, Ga. + +The enlistment dated from March 18, '61, and the regiment was composed +of the following companies: + + A. Newnan Guards, Capt. Geo. M. Hanvey. + B. Southern Guards, Capt. F. S. Wilkins. + C. Southern Right Guards, Capt. Jno. A. Hauser. + D. Oglethorpe Infantry, Capt. Horton B. Adams. + E. Washington Rifles, Capt. S. A. H. Jones. + F. Gate City Guards, Capt. W. L. Ezzard. + G. Bainbridge Independents, Capt. Jno. W. Evans. + H. Dahlonega Volunteers, Capt. Alfred Harris. + I. Walker Light Infantry, Capt. S. H. Crump. + K. Quitman Guards, Capt. J. S. Pinkard. + +The patriotism of Augusta is evidenced by the fact that in this, the +first regiment organized, she had larger representation than any city in +the State. On the date of its organization Gov. Brown reviewed the +regiment and delivered an address that aroused much enthusiasm. A few +days later we left for Pensacola, via Montgomery, Ala., then the Capital +of the new Confederacy. Between Garland and Evergreen, Ala., there was a +gap of sixteen miles, over which the boys had to take the peoples' route +as there was no railway connection. It was their first march and as +their feet grew sore and their untried muscles wearied by the +unaccustomed strain upon them, they began to ask the citizens they met: +"How far to Evergreen?" "After you pass the next hill and reach the rise +of another it will be five miles," said one. This point reached, another +was asked the question. "Six miles," he said. Tramping along the dusty +highway, another traveler was met, "How far to ----." "For the Lord's +sake," said Tom Eve, "don't inquire again. The road gets longer every +time you ask." + + +AN AMENDMENT TO THE TABLE OF LONG MEASURE. + +While not germane to the matter under discussion my friend, Joe Derry +will pardon I know a slight interruption in his story, suggested by the +incident just related. Passing through the piney woods of Richmond +county some years ago the writer stopped at a country home to secure +proper direction as to his route. A lady came to the door and in answer +to my questions, said she was unable to give the information, but +suggested that I might be enlightened at the next house. "How far is the +next house?" I asked. "About twict out o' sight," she replied, and I +went on my way with at least the satisfaction of having secured for the +"table of long measure," that had worried me in my school boy days, an +amendment, that in originality if not in definiteness, was literally +"out o' sight." + +"Straggling into Evergreen, next morning, we reached Pensacola by rail +that evening, spent a day in the town and then sailed down the beautiful +bay, past the navy yard at Warrenton, and so close to Fort Pickens that +its guns could have blown us out of the water. Landing near Fort +Barrancas, we marched to our camping place, half a mile beyond and near +the magazine. Our stay here was marked by no special incident, the time +being spent in drilling, regimental and picket duty, unloading powder +from a sloop and filling sand bags to strengthen the front of Fort +Barrancas. + +About the last of May, orders were received for the transfer of the +regiment to Virginia. Steaming back to Pensacola, the Oglethorpes were +met by a delegation from the Clinch Rifles, 5th Ga. Reg., by whom they +were conducted to the quarters of that company and royally entertained +until our departure next day. The pleasure of the occasion was marred, +however, by the death of Bugler Parkins, of the Clinch, caused by the +bite of a small ground-rattlesnake. On reaching Augusta the Company +received an ovation as great as that accorded them on their departure +for Pensacola. Three days in Augusta and then we were off for Richmond, +where we met with a very hearty reception. At our camp we were reviewed +by President Davis and Gov. Letcher, both of whom addressed the +regiment. About the middle of June we were off for Staunton by rail, +stopping at Waynesboro to partake of a bountiful feast prepared for us +by the ladies and served on rough pine tables in picnic style." + +(Col. C.H. Withrow, then a resident of Waynesboro, recalls the incident +and says that he was strongly impressed with the appetite shown by the +boys on that occasion, that the presence of beauty did not prevent them +from doing ample justice to the spread.) + +"At Staunton the regiment was entertained by a concert, in which the +children of the Blind Asylum sang patriotic Southern airs. A few days +later we were on the march to re-inforce Garnett at Laurel Hill. About +midday of the first day's march the patriotism of the Virginia ladies +manifested itself again in a bountiful feast prepared for us in a +beautiful grove, while from a rock near by there gushed forth a bold +spring of almost ice-cold water. A night or two afterward, we camped at +the foot of Cheat Mountain, in a beautiful valley, at the Southern end +of which some time later we were stationed for several months, +confronting a Federal force under Gen. Reynolds on Cheat Mountain. A +young lady living near our camping ground entertained us with Southern +songs, with a melodeon accompaniment, some of the boys singing with her. +Two nights later, at Beverly, we encountered a fearful storm, which blew +down every tent and repeated that interesting performance every time we +put them up. + +Reaching Laurel Hill we found that service in West Virginia was far more +serious business that at Pensacola. Picket duty was heavy and soon +became dangerous. McLellan with 20,000 men, began his advance early in +July. To oppose this force Garnett had only 4,500 men, many of whom were +in the hospital. Exposure had produced much sickness and here occurred +the first death among the Oglethorpes, that of Dillard Adams, a good +soldier and a true man. On July 7th Gen. Morris took position in our +front with 8,000 men, while McLellan, with the remainder of his force +advanced on Rich Mountain, held by Col. Pegram with 1,300 of Garnett's +command. On July 8th the 1st Ga. moved out in front of Laurel Hill to +feel the enemy's position. We soon encountered their skirmishers, who +after shelling woods, attempted to seize a small round hill in front of +Belington. Lieut. Col. J. O. Clark quickly deployed his men and +exclaiming, "Up the hill, boys, and remember you are Georgians," led a +gallant charge, which drove the enemy back with some loss. Skirmishing +continued until July 11th, when Garnett learned that Rich Mountain had +been captured by Rosecranz. + + +THE LAUREL HILL RETREAT. + +The capture of Pegram's position and of a large part of his force +necessitated the evacuation of Laurel Hill, and Garnett began his +retreat towards Beverly, sixteen miles distant. After two-thirds of the +distance had been covered he was falsely informed that the enemy had +already occupied that place, and retracing his steps almost to his +abandoned camp, he turned off towards Beverly, crossing, by an almost +impassable road, over Cheat Mountain into the Cheat River valley and +intending by turning the mountains at their Northern end to regain his +communications. On July 13th we were overtaken by the Federals between +Kalers and Corricks fords. The 1st Ga. and 23rd Va., with a section of +artillery under Lieut. Lanier, and a cavalry force under Capt. Smith, +were formed into a rear guard to protect the wagon train. At Carrick's +Ford the 23rd Va. suffered considerably and a part of the wagon train +was captured. The larger part of six companies of the 1st Ga. and +including the Oglethorpes, failed to hear the order to retire and held +their position until the enemy had passed. Cut off from the main force +and with no avenue of escape except the pathless mountains, that hemmed +them in, they wandered for three days with nothing to appease their +hunger except the inner bark of the laurel trees. On the third day, +famished and worn out, they stopped to rest, when Evan Howell proposed +that he and another member of the regiment would go forward and endeavor +to find an outlet or a pilot to lead them to an inhabited section. He +fortunately met with a mountaineer named Parsons, who took them to his +home, called in his neighbors, killed a number of beeves to feed the +famished men and then piloted them safely to Monterey. + +Gen. Garnett, who was with the main column, had been killed, after +passing Carrick's Ford, while withdrawing his rear guard and his force +under Ramsey and Taliaferro marched all night and succeeded in passing +the Red House and turning the mountain before Gen. Hill, who was sent by +McLellan to intercept them, had reached that point. They were now on +fairly good roads, in friendly country and at Petersburg, W. Va., the +people turned out en masse to feed the exhausted Confederates. From this +point they retired by easy marches to Monterey. The campaign, undertaken +with a small force, to hold an unfriendly section, had proven an +expensive failure." + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +DONNING THE GREY. + + +About midday on Dec. 20, 1860, the writer sat in an audience room in +Macon, Ga., listening to an address delivered by Hon. Howell Cobb to the +Cotton Planters' Convention, then in session in that city. After all +these years my memory retains no trace of that address in either theme +or outline. I do recall, however, an interruption in its delivery, +remembered, possibly, because it threw a crimson tint over the years +that followed it, and for the further reason that if there had been no +occasion for such an interruption, these records might never have been +written. While Mr. Cobb was speaking, a messenger entered the hall and +handed him a telegram. He broke the seal, glanced over its contents and +then read the following message to the audience: "The South Carolina +Convention has just passed the Ordinance of Secession from the Union." +From that moment the "Cotton Planters' Convention" was no longer in it. +The audience became a howling mob. That night there was a torchlight +procession with brass band accompaniments. The streets were packed with +a solid mass of excited, fevered, yelling humanity. The people were +simply wild for Southern independence and the scene was probably +duplicated in every Southern city. + +In the early months in '61, when all hope of a peaceful separation had +passed, the war fever attacked first the towns and cities where the +people were in constant touch with each other and where the daily press +kept the public pulse at more than normal beat. As the demand for troops +increased, the infection spread to quiet country places with their +monthly church service and their weekly mail. And so in due time it +reached the community in which I lived, a community of quiet, well-to-do +farmers, whose knowledge of Jomini and the art of war was decidedly +limited. A military organization of thirty of forty men was, however, +effected and Mr. John D. Mongin, the only member who knew the difference +between "shoulder arms" and "charge bayonet," was elected captain. Our +weekly drills at the academy grounds were confined largely to marching +in single rank to the music of a rustic drummer and fifer, who seemed in +blissful ignorance of anything but "slow time." There was a short-legged +Frenchman in the company, whose number was "32" and, who in counting +off, always responded with "dirty too." A year or two later those of us, +who had seen actual service, could probably have made the same response +without impairing in the least our reputation for veracity. As there was +not sufficient material in the community to form a full company, my +brother and myself, with D. W. Mongin, A. J. and J. H. Rhodes, made +application to the Oglethorpe Infantry, 1st Ga. Regiment, then at Laurel +Hill, Va., for admission into its ranks, and were accepted. Leaving +Augusta July 31, 1861, in company with George Pournelle and Ginnie Hitt, +who were returning from a ten days' furlough, we stopped over in +Richmond a day and visited the Confederate Congress then in session. +Sitting in the gallery of the Senate Chamber looking down upon Alex +Stephens in the chair and Bob Toombs, Ben Hill, E. A. Nisbet R. M. T. +Hunter and other worthies in the Hall, Luke Lane, an old college +classmate, wrote on the fly leaf of the pocket diary, from which these +records are partly taken a sort of preface, closing it with these words: +"Here's hoping that every Yankee may find a bloody grave;" and Ginnie +Hitt, sitting by, wrote beneath it: "Amen, say I." Luke appended my +initials to the sentiment, but as it was stronger than my inclinations +prompted me to endorse, I erased them. We visited also the prison +hospital where the Federals wounded at Manassas, were being cared for. +It was my first contact with "grim visaged war." + +To a stripling boy, reared in a quiet country home and in a community +in which there had never occurred a serious personal difficulty, I had +neither inherited nor acquired any taste for carnage or bloodshed, and +the scene was not a pleasant one. And yet the battlefield unfortunately +soon dulls our natural sensibilities and begets an indifference to +suffering that would shock us in civil life. + +On reaching Monterey, Va., where the Oglethorpes were recuperating from +the hardships of the "Laurel Hill Retreat," we found every tent occupied +and we remained at the village inn until quarters could be provided. I +remember that I slept, or tried to sleep, on the bare floor of our room +as a sort of preparation for the life on which I was entering. In this +connection I recall another fact, a peculiarity of this tavern, and that +was its capacity for the utilization of green apples as an article of +public diet. My experience with hostelries is not claimed to be at all +extensive, but among those whose hospitality I have had the good or bad +fortune to enjoy, or endure, this particular inn, on the line named, +certainly "took the dilapidated linen from the lonely shrub." We were +treated to apples baked and stewed and fried, to apple tarts and +custards and dumplings, to apple butter and it would probably be no +exaggeration to say, "there were others." After paying our bill Dan +Mongin remarked, "When green apple season plays out this hotel is going +to suspend." In verification of his prophecy, when we passed through +Monterey en route to join Stonewall Jackson in December, its doors were +closed, its lights were gone and all its halls deserted. Whether its +demise was due to the green apple theory, I am unable to say. + +My first month in camp was devoid of incident, its monotony being varied +only by squad drill, guard duty, foraging for maple syrup and other +edibles among the Dutch farmers of that section and digging graves for +the unfortunate victims of the campaign just ended. One of the graves +which the writer helped to dig in very hard clay, was appropriated by a +burial squad from another regiment for one of their own dead. I am not +lawyer enough to say whether the act was petty larceny, forcible entry +and detainer, or what an old colored friend of mine once diagnosed as +"legal mischievous" with the accent on the second syllable. + + +MY FIRST MARCH. + +On Sept. 7, '61, Sterling Eve, Ginnie Hitt, Dan Mongin and the writer, +not having been favored with the confidence of Gen. Lee as to his +military plans, went into the country on a foraging expedition. This +trip was probably inspired by a triumph in the culinary line achieved by +Dr. Hitt and George Pournelle in supplying our table with two varieties +of dumpling, apple and huckleberry, on the same day. We had no bag, in +which to boil the dumpling and were forced to use the mess towel as a +substitute. How long it had been subjected to its ordinary uses before +being utilized in this way I do not now recall. Dr. Hitt remembers, +however, or says he does, that the entire outer surface of the dumplings +was towel-marked. The nature of the mark referred to is left without +further discussion to the imagination of the reader. In this connection +I recall another incident in the culinary line, which may be as well +recorded here as elsewhere. About twenty years after the war I met Dr. +Hitt in Augusta and taking something from my pocket, I handed it to him +and asked if he could give me any information as to its character. He +examined it very carefully by sight, touch and smell, and then said very +confidently: "Oh, yes, I know what that is. It is a stone taken from a +deer's liver." His diagnosis was not "reasonably" correct. The article +under examination was a Confederate biscuit baked in our camp at +Jacksonboro, Tenn., in 1863, sent to my father's family as a specimen +and preserved during all those years. If I had taken the precaution to +have immersed it in insect powder it would probably at this date have +been still in the ring, though possibly a little disfigured. A few years +after Dr. Hitt's examination, I found that it had-- + + "Like an insubstantial pageant faded + Leaving not a wrack"-- + +but only a little dust behind. + +On our return from the foraging tour with a good supply of potatoes, +onions and maple syrup, we found the camp deserted--a camp favored with +the purest mountain air and the finest spring water, and yet where Dan +Mongin wrote to his father for brandy to counteract the effects of +malaria. The entire force at Monterey had been ordered to report to Gen. +Henry R. Jackson on Green Brier River, and had broken camp two hours +before our arrival. After resting an hour we began the tramp, trudging +over the mountain roads for eight miles in the mud and rain and stopping +for the night at the residence of a Col. Campbell in Crab Bottom. Here +we had the pleasure of meeting the first two heroines of the war, Miss +McLeod and Miss Kerr. They had ridden seventy miles on horseback without +an escort to notify Gen. Garnett of McLellan's approach. My first day's +march, though a short one, had broken me down so thoroughly that I was +compelled to tax the kindness of a 3rd Arkansas Regiment wagoner for a +ride next day. The entry in my journal for that date begins with these +words: "Took the road with a heavy heart and a heavier load." Three +years later, under the hardening process of camp life I was enabled to +march, on Hood's tramp to Nashville and back to Corinth, Miss., twenty +miles a day continuously and rode only one of the eight hundred miles +covered in that campaign. During my two days experience as an "Arkansas +Traveler" I think I heard more expletive, unadulterated "cussin" from +the driver of that wagon than it has ever been my misfortune to listen +to. His capacity in this line seemed to be not only double barreled, but +of the magazine gun variety. If he had failed to pass his examination in +the school of profanity I have never seen a man who was entitled to a +diploma. I appreciated the ride, but was glad to reach our new camp, +since it relieved me of his presence. + + +MY FIRST SKIRMISH. + +Gen. Jackson's force on the Green Brier consisted of the 1st and 12th +Ga., the 3rd Ark. and the 23rd and 37th Va. Regiments. Ten or twelve +miles northwest of us, on Cheat Mountain, lay a Federal force of 5,000 +men under Gen. Reynolds. Gen. Lee had planned an attack to be made on +this force on the morning of Sept. 12th, two days after our arrival at +the Green Brier. On the evening of the 11th an advance guard of ninety +men from the 1st and 12th Ga. under command of Lieut. Dawson was formed +with instructions to flank, by a night march, the Federal picket, secure +a position in their rear, capture them and thus prevent notice to Gen. +Reynolds of the intended attack. For this guard there were detailed from +the Oglethorpes, Wilberforce Daniel, Joe Derry, Tom Burgess, W. H. Clark +and the writer. Leaving camp at 7:30 p. m., under the pilotage of a +citizen of that section we reached a position within half a mile of the +Federal camp about sunrise, after a fatiguing march in the rain and mud, +being compelled to draw ourselves up the slippery mountain side by the +undergrowth that lay in our route. Soon after reaching our place of +ambush we heard the drums beat for "Guard Mount" and then the bands +began to play "Annie Laurie," "Run, Nigger Run," and "Jordan is a Hard +Road to Trabble," were three of the selections rendered. The first +suggested pleasant memories of our far away homes; the second, the +possibility that in a little while there might be a practical +illustration of the refrain, while the tramp we had just taken satisfied +us that "Jordan" was not the only hard road to travel. The selection of +these airs recalls the singular fact that in actual service military +bands do not as a rule play national or military music. The writer had +other opportunities than the one named of hearing Federal bands during +his term of service, but does not recall a single instance in which a +national air was rendered. Lulled by the music and overcome by fatigue +and loss of sleep, I fell into a doze, from which I was awakened by the +accidental discharge of a gun in the hands of one of the guard. A +Federal sergeant from the picket post, hearing the noise, came down the +road to investigate. On reaching a point opposite the left of our line +he heard the ominous click of the rifle hammers and started in full run +for his camp. Six or eight balls crashed through him and the poor fellow +fell dead in the road. Attracted by the firing, about twenty-five of the +Federal pickets came hurriedly down the road and on seeing their dead +comrade fired a volley into the woods, which concealed us, but failed to +do any execution. "Charge!" sang out our commander, and we broke for the +road. Before reaching it, the pickets had scattered into the woods +beyond. Tom Burgess, as he leaped into the road saw one of them rise +from a stump behind which he had been hiding, and run. Tom raised his +rifle, took deliberate aim and fired. As he fell, Tom pointed his finger +at him and said, "Got you." I was standing only a few feet from Tom and +it has always been a matter of gratification to me that my gun had been +fired before reaching the road and that I had no opportunity to reload. +At such close range it would have been almost impossible to have missed +my man, and whatever my feeling at the time may have been it would have +been a source of life-long regret to me to know positively that "some +mother's boy" had fallen by my hand, even in war. Several others were +killed as they ran through the woods. No member of the guard received +even a scratch, and the affair had more the appearance of a rabbit hunt +than a skirmish. After the firing had ceased, Lieut. Dawson, feeling +that it was unsafe to remain so near the Federal camp with so small a +force, reformed the guard and we began our march down the mountain. We +were expecting to meet the reserve picket of the enemy and in a sharp +curve in the road were confronted by a column of troops marching in +fours and only a hundred yards away. One of the guard sang out, "Here +they are boys," and the firing began. Three men were shot down and +seeing that we were outnumbered, Dawson gave the command: "Fall below +the road." Believing that implicit obedience to orders was the first +requisite of a soldier, I responded with considerable promptness. The +fire slackened a moment and then came the order: "Charge 'em." Up into +the road we clambered again, when we discovered that we were fighting +our own regiment, and "Cease firing, we are Georgians," rang out from +nearly a hundred throats. Ed Johnson, then in command of the 12th Ga., +afterwards a Major General, was riding towards the head of the column +and hearing our cry, sang out: "They are liars, boys. Pop it to 'em! +Pop it to 'em." The mistake was soon discovered, however, and the firing +ceased. Three men had been killed and a number wounded by this mutual +and unfortunate error. After the skirmish had ended and order had been +restored, Dr. Hitt told me that he had drawn a bead, squirrel or +otherwise, on my anatomy, and was in the act of firing when Col. Ed +Johnson, in his anxiety to reach the front, rode directly between us and +possibly saved him the horror of having killed a comrade and messmate. +One of the victims of that encounter, Felder, of the Houston Guards, +told his mess on leaving camp that he would be killed, a presentiment +that was unfortunately too true. Another poor fellow was shot through +the thigh, the ball cutting an artery. He lay there until the blood ran +down the road for a distance of fifteen feet. The sight caused another +soldier to have a nervous chill and he begged piteously to be moved +away. + +After the wounded had been cared for, the guard was reformed in front of +the brigade and we were marched back to a position in front of the +Federal camp to await the attack on its rear by the 3rd Ark. and the +23rd Va. Why this attack was never made seems to be a sort of unsolved +problem. Gen. Lee is said to have made a verbal explanation to President +Davis, but if there has been any published statement of the reason I +have failed to see it. As the attack on the rear had for some reason +failed to materialize, Gen. Jackson, after remaining on the mountain for +four days, returned to his old camp. + +In connection with this, my first skirmish I am glad to have the +opportunity of paying deserved tribute to a comrade, who has since +passed over the river, but who, on that day, as on every other in which +I had the honor to serve with him in time of peril, was conspicuous for +his courage and his cool indifference to danger. When the order was +given to fall below the road in order to secure some protection from the +rocks and trees, Will Daniel refused to do so and kept his exposed +position, coolly loading and firing until the skirmish was over. In +devotion to the cause, for which he fought, in readiness to accept the +gravest personal risks, in apparently absolute unconsciousness of +danger, he was every inch a soldier. + +And now what were my own sensations in this, my first baptism of fire? A +candid confession is said to be good for the soul, but whether it would +be good for the reputation in this particular case is another matter. +Under the law of testimony a witness is not compelled to incriminate +himself. Besides, after the lapse of nearly forty years, my memory can +not be expected to retain very accurately such minor details. I will +only say, therefore, that while the excitement produced by the crack of +the rifles and the hiss of the minies did in some degree lessen the +sense of personal danger, I have been able, even in my limited +experience as a traveler, to find quite a number of places that were to +me equally as pleasant as being under fire even for the first time. I +speak, of course, only for myself. Men's tastes differ in this as +widely perhaps as in other matters, and I do not claim that mine was a +universal or even a common experience. I only claim that while I had +been curious to know how I would feel under such circumstances, my +curiosity was satisfied in a little while, in a very little while. This +may have been due to the fact that my temperament is conservative and +that I did not care to be an extremist even in a little matter of this +kind--possibly, ah, yes, possibly. + + +MY FIRST PICKET DUTY. + +For several miles in our front, the road leading towards Cheat Mountain +ran through a narrow valley and then crossing the river, wound up the +mountain side. On an outpost near this road my first picket service was +rendered. From an aesthetic, rather than a military point of view the +scenery from this post was really enchanting. Just beyond the river lay +a range of mountains broken in its contour by a partial gap. In its rear +and forming a background, rose a loftier range, the whole constituting +in appearance a mammoth alcove. The foliage of the forest growth, that +studded the slopes from base to summit, alchemized by the autumn frosts +had changed its hues to gold and crimson and with its blended tints +forming to the eye an immense bouquet, the picture was worthy an +artist's brush and has lingered in my memory during all these years. +But the scene changes. Night comes on cold and drizzly and starless. +No fire is allowed by the officer of the guard. Standing alone on an +outpost in Egyptian darkness and numbed with cold, while the muffled +patter of the rain drops on the fallen leaves continually suggests the +stealthy footfall of an approaching foe, I reach the conclusion that it +subjects a man to some inconvenience to die for his country. + +A few nights afterwards the picket at this post was attacked by the +enemy and driven in. As they retired under fire Joe Derry was knocked +down by a buck and ball cartridge that riddled his cap and grazed his +scalp but inflicted no wound. When they had rallied on the reserve post +and Joe had opportunity to take his bearings he found that while +unwilling to remain and extend to his Northern friends any social +courtesies, he had been kind enough to leave with them a lock of his +hair. The clipping was made without pecuniary charge, but Joe has +probably preferred since to patronize a professional barber even at the +expense of his bank account. + + +MY FIRST BATTLE. + +On Oct. 3rd, '61, Gen. Reynolds, thinking, possibly, that military +etiquette required that he should return the call we had made him on +Sept. 12th, came down, attended by his entire force and knocked at the +door of our outer picket posts in the early morning hours with the +evident purpose of making an informal visit to our camp. The knock was +loud enough to arouse Col. Ed. Johnson, who went out and took command +of the pickets in person in order that the reception given our visitors +might be sufficiently warm and cordial. Under his personal direction +every foot of the Federal advance was stubbornly contested. A little +fellow belonging to our regiment finally grew tired of falling back and +running up to Johnson said: "Colonel, let's charge 'em." Johnson, with +that peculiar nervous twitching of the lip that characterized him in +battle, commended the little fellow for his grit, but did not think it +good military judgment to charge an entire army of five thousand men +with a squad of fifty pickets. By 8 a. m. Gen. Reynolds had taken +position in our front and his artillery had opened on our line. The main +attack was expected on our right, and to its defence the 1st and 12th +Ga. were assigned. Forming into line and lying down to escape the shot +and shells from the Federal batteries, we awaited the attack. A nervous +officer in the regiment kept walking up and down the line saying: "Keep +cool, boys, keep cool," until Lieut. Ben Simmons of the Oglethorpes, +suggested to him that he was wasting his breath, that the boys were +cool. Gen. Jackson came down to our position to overlook the field, and +while there a courier rode up and said: "General, the wagoners are +cutting the traces and running off with the horses." The General grew +very much excited and turning to his son, Harry Jackson, said, "Go up +there, Henry and shoot the first wagoner that cuts a trace or leaves his +team." Harry galloped off, trying to get his pistol from the holster. +After the cannonade had lasted several hours an infantry attack was made +on our left and was repulsed. Then Gen. Reynolds ordered an assault on +our right. As the attacking column debouched from the woods on the +further bank of the shallow Green Brier, we were double-quicked to the +front to oppose their passage. Just then Shoemaker's Va. Battery began +to throw grape shot into their ranks and the men refused to cross. The +officers stormed at them and rode their horses into the ranks in the +effort to force them to advance, but without avail. The column fell back +to the road where they were joined by their right wing and by 1 p. m. +the entire force was making tracks for Cheat Mountain. Thus ended my +second lesson in "Jomini," or my first battle, if battle it can be +called. The losses on both sides, probably, did not aggregate two +hundred. The official report of the engagement was, however, so +elaborate that it was subjected to criticism and ridicule by the +merciless pen of Jno. M. Daniel, of the Richmond Examiner. It was +reported that he said that there were more casualties from overwork and +exhaustion in setting up type for that report than from shot and shell +in the battle. + +Among the wounded that day was a member of the Bainbridge company of our +regiment, who had been shot down in the early morning as the pickets +were retiring before the Federal advance and, whose comrades were forced +to leave him where he fell. As the Union troops passed him again on +their return a surgeon was asked as to the propriety of taking him along +as a prisoner. "No," said he. "Give him a canteen of water. He'll be +dead in a few hours." The wounded man looked up at him and quoting, as +Dr. McIntyre would say, very liberally from profane history, told him +that he didn't intend to die. They left him, nevertheless, and when, at +3 o'clock next morning, he was brought into camp, both of our surgeons +pronounced his wound fatal. He dissented very strongly from their +opinions, was sent to the hospital and came out a well man, saved +largely, as I believe, by his dogged determination not to die. + + +A NIGHT STAMPEDE. + +There are panics commercial and panics military, bearing no special +relation to each other and yet produced possibly by similar causes. One +is attributed to a lack of confidence in others; the other is possibly +due to a want of the same mental condition in regard to ourselves. In +war fear as well as courage is contagious. The conspicuous bravery of a +single soldier has sometimes steadied a wavering line, while one man's +inability to face the music has begun a rearward movement that ended in +a rout. Gen. Dick Taylor says that in Jackson's Valley Campaign he one +day quieted the nervousness of his men under a heavy fire by standing on +the breastworks and coolly striking a match on the heel of his boot to +light a cigar. His apparent indifference to the danger was probably +feigned but it produced the desired result. Heroism in battle and out of +it is probably not so much the result of what is termed personal courage +as it is the effect of lofty pride of character, backed and strengthened +by a God-like sense of duty. Napoleon once ordered one of his colonels +to charge a battery that was playing havoc with his lines. The officer +turned pale as the order came from his commander's lips, but he went to +his post promptly and led the charge and Napoleon said to his staff: +"That's a brave man, he feels the danger, but is willing to face it." +There are times, however, in war, when men, from some cause, real or +imaginary, lose their self-control and give way to an unreasonable and +unreasoning fear, when the instinct of self-preservation is uppermost +and patriotism and pride alike lose their power. A few occasions of this +kind I recall in my term of service. One of them occurred on the night +of Oct. 26, '61, at Green Brier River. A picket from one of the outposts +came in and reported the presence of a body of Federal troops near his +post. Two companies from the 1st and 12th Ga. and 37th Va. each, were +aroused from sleep and sent out to capture or disperse these disturbers +of our dreams. Few occasions in war test a man's nerves more thoroughly +than being suddenly awakened at night by an alarm. I have known men at +such a time to suffer from nervous chills and on one occasion it brought +on a member of the regiment an attack of cholera morbus. As this was the +only instance within my observation when such a result was produced, I +am not prepared, without further evidence, to recommend it to the +medical profession either as an emetic or an aperient. + +The six companies, including the Oglethorpes, had passed the last +vidette post and crossing Green Brier River had begun the ascent of the +mountain beyond. We had reached the point where the enemy had been seen +and the location was an ideal one for an ambuscade. The dense forest +growth overarching the road, shut out the starlight and we were unable +to see six feet in our front. The head of the column had passed a sharp +bend in the road and was doubling back, after the manner of mountain +highways, when a soldier near the front stepped on a stick and it broke +with a sharp snapping sound resembling the click of a rifle hammer. Some +one in his rear, not knowing that the column had changed direction, and +mistaking the sound for evidence of an ambush, said: "Look out boys," +and stepped to the side of the road. The next file followed suit and the +movement increased in volume and force as it came down the line, until +the hurried tramp of feet sounded like a cavalry charge, as most of the +men thought it was. For a few minutes everything was in confusion and +panic reigned supreme. There was an undefined dread in every man's mind +of a danger whose character and extent was hidden by the darkness. +Several guns were fired, but fortunately there were no casualties save a +few skinned noses from too sudden contact with the undergrowth that +walled in the road. Order was finally restored and the command proceeded +on its mission, but failed to locate an enemy, which had probably never +existed except in the perverted vision of a nervous picket. + + +THREE LITTLE CONFEDERATES. + +Thomas Nelson Page has written very charmingly of "Two Little +Confederates," but an incident that occurred during our stay at Green +Brier shows that "there were others." On Nov. 14, '61, three Virginia +boys living in vicinity of our camp, and all under fifteen years of age, +were out squirrel hunting on the Green Bank road, which led partly in +the direction of the Federal camp on Cheat Mountain. Rambling through +the woods in search of game, they came in sight of Yankee soldier, who +was out on a similar errand, or possibly on an independent scouting +expedition. As he was a "stranger" they decided to "take him in." He had +laid aside his gun and cartridge box and was sitting by a tree eating +his lunch. Slipping up noiselessly in his rear they captured his arms +and then presenting their squirrel rifles they offered to serve as an +honorary escort to our camp. He was rather loth to comply with the +request of his youthful captors, but the muzzles of their guns were very +persuasive, and with true Virginia pluck, they marched their mortified +prisoner to Gen. Jackson's quarters. I regret that I failed to preserve +the names of those three brave little Confederates. + +But few other incidents worthy of record in these memories occurred +during our stay on the Green Brier. On Nov. 17 there was a hotly +contested snow ball fight between the 1st and 12th Ga. Regiments, +resulting in a drawn battle. Two days later at 2 a. m., in response to +the rattle of musketry at the picket post, we were aroused and +marshalled into line in the wintry night air to repel an expected attack +on our camp. It was on this occasion that the cholera morbus incident, +to which allusion has been made, occurred. The alarm proved groundless, +as the pickets had mistaken an old grey mare and her colt for a body of +the enemy. As the animal was clothed in grey, the Confederate color, the +mistake was all the less excusable. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +A CHANGE OF BASE. + + +For some weeks rumors, or "grape vine" bulletins, as they were called, +had been afloat in camp that our regiment was to be transferred to coast +service. To boys reared in the milder climate of Georgia the taste we +were having of a Virginia winter rendered these rumors very palatable. +And when, on Nov. 21, orders came to break camp we felt rather confident +that we were bidding a long farewell to "Traveler's Repose" and +Northwest Virginia, and were off for Georgia. The baggage wagons, of +which the 1st Ga. had at that stage of the war, enough, in Gen. Loring's +opinion, to equip a division, were loaded and went their way. All the +afternoon we lay around the dismantled camp awaiting order to "follow +pursuit," as a friend of mine once said, but they failed to come. Night +settled down cold and cheerless, with our tents and blankets ten miles +away, and we had to make the best of it. My bedfellow and I slept on an +oilcloth, covered with an overcoat, and tied our four feet up together +in a flannel shirt. Next day we crossed Allegheny Mountain and after +three days' march, buoyed with the hope of spending the winter under a +warmer sun, we reluctantly turned our faces Northward again, with the +feeling in our hearts if not voiced upon our lips, + + "O, ever thus from childhood's hour + I've seen my fondest hopes decay." + +After a week's march my feet grew very sore and as I limped through +Harrisonburg, a sweet-faced Virginia matron, with music in her voice and +the light of heaven in her eye, beckoned to me from the window where she +was sitting and gave me a nice pair of woollen socks. Passing through +Newtown, Middletown, Kernstown and a number of other towns in a section +made famous afterwards by Jackson's Valley Campaign, we reached +Winchester Dec. 8, 1861. A few days later a supply of blankets +contributed by the good ladies of Augusta, was received by the +Oglethorpes. One of the contributors had no blankets, and in lieu of +them, donated a handsome crumb-cloth, which like Joseph's coat, was of +many colors, red and green being the prevailing tints. In the +distribution this fell to Elmore Dunbar, the wag of the Company. Not +needing it as a blanket he took it to a tailor in Winchester, had it +transformed into a full suit, cap, coat and pants, and donning it had an +innumerable company of gamins, white and black, following in his wake +all over the town. + +He and Harrison Foster were messmates. There was no discount on either +of them as soldiers. Enlisting at the first call to arms, they were +always among the first to toe the line at every beat of the longroll +and in the closing months of the war, when hope of success had well nigh +passed and so many were dropping by the wayside, they held out bravely +and manfully to the end. But as cooks they were not a brilliant success. +One evening Harrison had gathered a few brush to make a fire, when he +called on Dunbar to assist in his preparations for the evening meal, an +appeal, to which the latter failed to respond. "Well," said Harrison, +"if you don't help, I'll swear I won't cook any supper." "All right," +said Dunbar, "My supper's cooked," and fishing out of his coattail +pocket an antiquated biscuit of uncertain age, he began to nibble. +"Well," said Harrison, "I won't build any fire. You'll have to freeze," +and Dunbar gently drew from his haversack an old-fashioned silk beaver +hat, that he had worn in the march up the valley and quietly placed it +on the fire as his contribution to the evening's comfort. + + +A SOLILOQUY--(NOT HAMLET'S.) + +Among the original members enlisting with the Oglethorpes, was one H-- +H--, who, in civil life, was so scrupulously careful with his dress that +in these latter days he would have passed a creditable examination as a +dude. Camp life is not specially conducive to personal neatness and +eight month's service had left to him on this line only the memory of +better days. Returning from Winchester one night in a condition not +promotive of mental equilibrium, he failed to find his tent and spent +the night around the camp fire. He awoke next morning with his head in a +camp kettle and his clothing soiled and blackened by contact with the +cooking utensils, that had been his only bed-fellows. Running his hand +through his matted locks and surveying his discolored uniform he was +overheard to indulge in the following soliloquy: "Is this the gay and +fascinating H-- H--, that once perambulated the streets of Augusta in +faultless attire? When I think of what I am and what I used to was, I +feel myself blamed badly treated without sufficient cause." + + +"LIABLE TO DISAPPINTMENTS." + +On a Saturday afternoon in my boyhood days, in company with a +schoolmate, I was rambling through the woods in the enjoyment of the +hebdomadal relief from the restraints of the school room and the +unpalatable mysteries of the three R's taught with a hickory attachment. +Reaching a country bathinghouse half-filled with water and used by a +neighboring colored Baptist church for baptismal purposes, we proceeded +to draw off the water in order to catch the tadpoles that were enjoying +their otium cum dignitate on its mud-lined bottom. On the next day the +preacher and congregation assembled at the place to administer the rite +of baptism to a number of applicants for membership. Owing to our +tadpole hunt of the preceding day, they found that unlike the place +mentioned in the Scriptures, there was not "much water there," and they +were compelled to defer the ceremony to a more convenient season. In +dismissing the congregation the colored brother took occasion to remark +that "We are liable, brethren, to disappintments in this life." On +Christmas day in '61, in our camp, near Winchester, the mess to which +the writer belonged found sad occasion to verify the truth if not the +orthography of our dusky brother's observation. With a laudable desire +to celebrate the day in appropriate style we had arranged with a colored +caterer to supply our mess table with the proverbial turkey and such +other adjuncts as the depleted condition of our financial bureau would +permit. The day dawned and in the early morning hours our appetites for +the coming feast were whetted by an eggnog kindly furnished the entire +company by Lieut. J. V. H. Allen. The Christmas sun passed its meridian +and traveled on toward its setting with no Joshua to stay its course. +The appointed dinner hour came, as all appointed times do, but the +proverbial turkey came not, with adjuncts or without. With our +gastronomic hopes knocked finally into pi, but not mince pie, we sat +down at last to our hardtack and bacon, lamenting in our hearts the +uncertainty of "aught that wades, or soars, or shines beneath the +stars." Whether the roost, from which our caterer expected to supply our +larder was too well guarded on the preceding night, or whether the +rating given our mess by the commercial agencies was unsatisfactory has +remained through all these years an unsolved problem. + + +A TRAMP WITH STONEWALL JACKSON. + +After our arrival in Winchester the "grape vine" service was again +brought into requisition and rumors were current that we were going into +winter quarters. But this was not "Stonewall Jackson's Way." His +headquarters were in Winchester. Bath and Romney, in his department, +were occupied by Federal troops and he determined to oust them. On Jan. +1, '62, our division, with Ashby's cavalry, began the march to Bath. It +was a bright, warm day, with a touch of spring in the air. On the +evening of the 3rd it began to snow and for thirty-one days the sun did +not show his face again. If any reader of these memories should be +disposed to question the accuracy of this statement, I can only say that +it is so written in the chronicles of the First Georgia Regiment as +recorded in my journal for the month named. That evening the wagons +failed to reach our camp and our supper was confined to a single +course--parched corn. Not relishing a repetition of the menu for +breakfast, I dropped out of the ranks soon after the march began and +tramping across the freshly fallen snow to a residence not far from the +roadside, I found a trio of pretty Virginia girls engineering the first +cooking stove I had ever seen. Reared in a country home and accustomed +to rely for my daily bread on the culinary skill of old "Aunt Hannah," +the presiding genius of an old-fashioned kitchen fire place six feet +wide, where, with the tact born of long experience, she piled the ruddy +coals on the biscuit oven lid, or fried in a skillet the home-made +sausage and spare rib with home made lard, or broiled on a gridiron the +juicy beefsteak, or piled the burning "chunks" under the mammoth kettle +that hung from the crane, while from its cavernous depths the air was +laden with the aroma of ham and cabbage, this innovation on old-time +methods was something of a revelation. But its novelty did not diminish +the relish with which I hid away in my empty anatomy the steaming pan +cakes dished out by fair and shapely hands to a squad of hungry soldier, +one of whom, as Bill Arp would say, I was glad to be which. + +On the morning of Jan. 4th we were halted in front of Bath, while a +portion of the division was deployed on the left of the road for an +attack upon the enemy. As the line of battle advanced through the snow, +over a mountain ridge, and in plain view of us, Capt. Sam Crump, who had +seen service in Mexico, said: "Well, boys, the ball will open now in +fifteen minutes." I was only a stripling boy, with but limited +experience as a soldier, and I remember with what reverent respect and +implicit faith I received the utterance. But the ball did not open. The +Federals retired without resistance to Hancock, Md., six miles away, and +we hurried forward in pursuit. Reaching the hills overlooking the +Potomac and the town after dark, we were standing in the road awaiting +orders when a sudden flash illuminated the heavens and the regiment sank +as one man into the snow. We thought we had struck a masked battery, but +it was our own guns throwing grape shot into the woods in front. After +standing an hour or two in the snow without fire we bivouacked and I +slept, or tried to sleep, on three rails with their ends resting on a +stump. We had built a fire of rails, a favorite army fuel in those days. +I do not remember from what species of timber they were made, but I do +recall the fact that it was a popping variety when subjected to heat. +All through the night our sleep was disturbed by the necessity of rising +at frequent intervals to extinguish our burning blankets, and one man +had his cap nearly burned from his head before it awoke him. + +Next morning Turner Ashby went over under flag of truce to demand the +surrender of the town. During his absence on this mission it was rumored +that he had been held as a prisoner and his cavalry were preparing to +storm the town to secure his release. The report proved a fake and he +returned, bringing Gen. Lander's refusal to comply. An artillery duel +ensued. The Federal guns had to be elevated to reach our position and +their balls striking the frozen ground would rebound. Some of the boys, +who had played "town ball" at school would pretend to catch them, and +would sing out: "Caught him out," when another would reply: "Don't +count, 'twas second bounce." It seemed more like a frolic than a fight. +That night I laid aside my shoes and found them next morning filled with +snow, while my blanket was covered with an inch or two of the same white +mantle. Water was scarce and I tried to secure enough for a cup of +coffee by melting snow in a tin cup, but found it a tedious process. + +On the morning of the 7th the force was withdrawn to operate against +Romney. The weather at this time recalls an old rhyme learned in my +boyhood, which fits the case better than any description I could give +and which runs thus, + + "First she blew, + Then she snew, + And then she thew, + And then she friz." + +The roads were as slick as glass. The horses had to be rough-shod and +the wheels rough-locked with chains to cut the frozen sleet and snow in +descending the hills, and even with these precautions the horses would +fall and be dragged to the bottom of the descent before a halt could be +made. Twelve horses would be hitched to a single piece of artillery and +details were made from each company to push the wagons up the hills. To +men not inured to such hardships the experience was a pretty rough one +and the criticisms of the winter campaign made by some of them would not +look well in a Sunday school book. Osborne Stone's Presbyterian +training would not allow him to use any cuss words, but I remember that +his "dog-on-its" were frequent and emphatic. On January 8 we reached the +"Cross Roads," and those who were pronounced by the surgeons unfit for +further winter service were returned to Winchester. With them went the +writer, to worry for four weeks with typhoid fever, while the command +went on to Romney. Of the Romney trip I can not speak from personal +knowledge, but from the accounts given by those who can, it was a +repetition of the return from Hancock with its hardships, perhaps +intensified. + +Jackson accomplished his purpose, to drive the enemy from his +department, though at the expense of a good deal of exposure and +suffering to his men. + + +ASHBY AND JACKSON. + +As hard as the service was, I am glad to have had the opportunity of +sharing it with such a man as Turner Ashby. He was then a colonel of +cavalry. Mounted on his milk white steed, with the form of an athlete; +coal black hair, a silky brown beard reaching nearly to his waist and a +velvety, steel-grey eye, he was, in soul as well as body, an ideal +cavalier. His command embraced some of the best blood of Virginia and he +and they were fit types of the Old South, worthy representatives of a +civilization, that in culture, courtesy and courage, in honor and in +honesty, the past had never equalled and the future will never repeat. + +Jackson had not then developed the military genius that afterwards +rendered him so famous. The campaign furnished but little field for +generalship, but it gave evidence of one trait in his character--to halt +at no obstacle in the accomplishment of a purpose to benefit the cause +for which he fought. In personal appearance and bearing he and Ashby +differed widely. Without grace as a rider, and indifferently mounted, +there was nothing in his appearance to indicate or foreshadow the height +to which he afterwards attained. And yet I can but cherish with pride +the recollection that in this campaign I had the privilege of serving +under one, who in the blood-stained years that followed "went down to a +soldier's grave with the love of the whole world, and the name of +Stonewall Jackson." + + +"AUNT HANNAH." + +In this connection my heart prompts me to pay its earnest tribute to +one, whose memory the sketch above recalls. Dear old Aunt Hannah. How +her name brings back to my heart and life today the glamour of the old, +old days, that will never come again--days when to me a barefoot boy, +life seemed a long and happy holiday. I can see her now, her head +crowned with a checkered handkerchief, her arms bared to the elbows, her +spectacles set primly on her nose, while from her kindly eyes there +shone the light of a pure white soul within. She was only an humble +slave, and yet her love for me was scarcely less than that my father and +mother bore me and when on a summer's day in '61 my brother and myself +left the old homestead to take our humble places under a new born flag, +there was not a dry eye on the whole plantation and old Aunt Hannah wept +in grief as pure and deep as if the clods were falling on an only child. + +Long years have come and gone since she was laid away in the narrow +house appointed for all the living. No marble headstone marks the spot, +yet I am sure the humble mound that lies above her sleeping dust, covers +a heart as honest and as faithful, as patient and as gentle, as kindly +and as true as any that rest beneath the proudest monument that art +could fashion, or affection buy. She reared a large family of sons and +daughters, Rev. Charles T. Walker, the "Black Spurgeon," among them, +transmitting to them all a character for honesty and virtue marked even +in those, the better days of the republic. + +Wisely or otherwisely, in the order of Providence, or in the order of +Napoleon's "heavier battalions," we have in this good year of our Lord +not only a New South, but a new type of Aunt Hannah. The old is, I fear, +a lost Pleiad, whose light will shine no more on land, or sea, or sky. + + +A RIDE WITH BELLE BOYD, THE CONFEDERATE SPY. + +On a page of the writer's scrap book, underneath a roll of the +Oglethorpes and in friendly contact with the parole granted me at +Johnston's surrender, is a slip of paper pocket-worn, and yellow with +age, which reads as follows: "Winchester, Va., Mar. 1, 1862. Pass +W. A. Clark and brother today on Valley Road. By order Maj. Gen. T. J. +Jackson. M. M. Sibert, Captain and Provost Marshall." Thereby hangs the +following tale: On my return to Winchester, after the tramp to Hancock, +I had secured lodgings at the home of a Mrs. Polk, where for nearly four +weeks, I lay with my pulses throbbing with fever. From that sick bed two +incidents come back vividly today over the waste of years that have +intervened. My hostess, whose kindness I shall never forget, had a +daughter, Nellie, who, as a rustic friend of mine would say, was +something of a "musicianer." Patriotic songs were all the rage and one +evening as I lay on my bed restless from fever and trying to sleep, she +began in the parlor below to sing the "Bonnie Blue Flag." The copy used +had, I think, eleven verses, and in my nervous condition the +entertainment seemed endless. Just as I had congratulated myself on its +conclusion, a young gentleman called and insisted on a repetition of the +program with his vocal accompaniment, and she was kind enough to comply, +without skipping a verse. I can not recall a musical entertainment that +my condition forced me to appreciate less though cheerfully acquitting +her of any malice aforethought in the matter. + +As I lay on my bed during all those weeks and looked on the +white-mantled hills that environed the town I remember distinctly how +intensely my parched lips craved the cooling touch of the pure white +snow. But like Tantalus, I was forced day after day to gaze on a luxury +I could not enjoy, for the medical science of that day said nay. Tempora +mutantur, and doctors change with them. + +Before I had recovered sufficiently to leave my bed Stonewall Jackson +decided to evacuate Winchester and ordered all the convalescent sick to +be moved. Having no desire to complete my recovery in a Federal prison +my brother secured the pass above referred to and seats in the hack to +Strasburg. There were nine passengers and among them was Belle Boyd, the +Confederate Spy. Her home was in Martinsburg and her father a Major in +the Confederate army. Her mother had forced her to leave home on the +approach of the Federal army. On its first visit to Martinsburg she had +remained there. Having a soldier friend in the hospital and uncertain as +to the treatment he would receive from the enemy, she had taken two of +her father's servants to the hospital with a stretcher, had him placed +upon it and walked by his side through the streets to her home with a +loaded pistol in her hand to protect him from insult or injury at their +hands. A few days later a Federal soldier attempted to place a Union +flag over the door of her home and she persuaded him to desist by the +use of a leaden argument from her pistol. Another attempt to remove a +Confederate flag that waved over the mantel in her parlor met with a +similar counter-irritant, and she was molested no further. Fortunately +or unfortunately as the case may be, neither of her shots hit their +mark. In view of these facts her mother thought it prudent to send her +away before the Union forces occupied the town again, and she was en +route to the home of a relative in Front Royal. To protect myself from +the chilly air during the stage ride I was wearing a woollen visor +knitted for my brother by Miss Lucy Meredith, of Winchester, and +covering my head and throat, leaving only my eyes exposed. With a +woman's instinct she saw that I was too weak to sit up and arranged to +give me possession of an entire seat, improvised a pillow of a red scarf +she was wearing on her shoulders and in every way possible contributed +to my ease and comfort. On reaching Strasburg she aided my brother in +getting me into the hotel, arranged a lounge in the parlor for me, +brought my supper and entertained me during the meal, refusing to eat +anything herself until I had finished. After supper she sat by me and +talked to me for an hour, and then, thinking I was weary, she moved the +lamp in a corner of the room shading it from my eyes with her scarf, so +that I might sleep. After all these years my memory retains some +incidents of that conversation. I remember that she told me something +of her child life; that when a little girl she had been a member of Dave +Strother's party in his tour through Virginia, which he described so +charmingly in the early numbers of Harper's Magazine over the nom de +plume of "Porte Crayon;" that Gen. Lander, who commanded the Federal +troops, that we had driven from Bath into Maryland, was an old +sweetheart of hers; that Dave Strother was a member of his staff, and +she intended to cut his acquaintance. + +I remember that she said further that she had been hurt by a remark made +to her that day by a soldier about the seeming boldness of Virginia +girls; that soldiers mistook kindness and the expression of a desire to +serve them for boldness; that she intended coming to Georgia after the +war to get married. She left on the next train for her destination, and +I saw her no more. She had impressed me as one of kindest and gentlest +of women and yet a year or two later she forded the Potomac alone in a +storm at midnight to carry important information to her brother in +Stuart's cavalry. Perhaps with woman as well as man + + "The bravest are the tenderest, + The loving are the daring." + +If necessity had required it I believe she would have led the charge of +Pickett's Division at Gettysburg without a tremor. + +In the years that followed she became a noted spy, going into the +Federal lines and securing information, which she sent or carried to the +Confederate army. She was finally arrested and sent to Washington as a +prisoner. It was reported that she married the Federal officer, to whose +oversight she had been entrusted and that he joined the Confederate +army. Some of her methods as a spy subjected her to harsh and hostile +criticism, but in grateful memory of her kindness to one, who was only a +private soldier, without rank or social prestige, one who had no claim +upon her service save that in an humble way he had tried to serve the +cause she loved and in that service had grown sick and helpless, her +name has never passed my lips except in tones of fervent gratitude and +reverent respect. + + +VIRGINIA. + +As my service as a soldier on Virginia soil was now about to end and as +that service carried me afterwards into six other states of the +Confederacy, in four of them lengthening into months or years, it may +not be amiss to say in this connection that judged by that experience, +Virginia stood above them all in kindly feeling and hospitable treatment +to the Confederate soldier. Furnishing to the army perhaps a larger +quota of her sons than any other State, her territory tracked by the +tread of hostile armies for four bloody years, her homes destroyed and +her fields laid waste, her generous kindness and her active sympathy for +the suffering soldier never wavered to the end. + +While the South as a whole gave to the world the highest type of +civilization it had ever known, Virginia, as I believe, stood at its +head, the capstone in the fairest structure the sun has gilded since the +morning stars sang together, and garlanding its summit like a glistening +coronal, bright with the light of immortality stands the name and fame +of Robert Edward Lee. + + +HOME AGAIN. + +The 1st Ga. Regiment was the only infantry organization from this State +mustered out at the expiration of its first year's service. The +Conscript Act became effective in the spring of '62, and succeeding +regiments, whose terms expired later were under its provision retained +in the service. On the return of the command from Romney the 1st Ga. was +ordered to Tennessee. Going by rail to Lynchburg, a railroad accident +occasioned some delay at that point and as their time would have expired +in a few days they were sent to Augusta to be mustered out. + +My brother, knowing that I would not be strong enough to rejoin the +command before its term of service ended, decided to take me directly +home. And so by stage and rail, with tiresome delays at every junction, +in the deepening twilight of a fair spring day, weak and weary, I came +in sight of the old homestead once more. Over the joy and gladness of +such a meeting after an absence, every day of which had seemed to those +I had left behind, an age of agony and dread, it is meet that the +mantle of silence should fall. The halo that came to fathers and mothers +hearts in those old days when their "boys" came home from the war, +seemed like a breath from Heaven. It was sacred then and to me it is +sacred still. Loving lips, that gave me glad welcome that spring day +have long been cold and silent, and eyes that shone through misty tears +are dim in death. Some time in the coming months or years, I know not +when, and yet in God's good time, in weakness and in weariness at +even-tide on some spring day again, it may be, I shall, I trust, go +"home again;" not to the old homestead hallowed as it is by a mother's +love and a father's prayers, and yet to find hard by the River of Life +from lips long silent, a welcome just as loving in "a city, whose +builder and maker is God." + + +ROSTER OF OGLETHORPE INFANTRY, + +Co. D, 1st Ba. Regt. + + Capt. J. O. Clarke, promoted Lieut. Col. 1st Ga. Reg. + Capt. Horton B. Adams. + 1st Lieut. J. V. H. Allen. + 2d Lieut. Geo. W. Crane. + 3d Lieut. S. B. Simmons. + 1st Serg. A. J. Setze. + 2d Serg. W. S. Holmes. + 3d Serg. S. C. Foreman. + 4th Serg. L. A. Picquet. + 1st Corp. O. M. Stone. + 2d Corp. Jesse W. Rankin. + 3d Corp. Chas H. Roberts. + 4th Corp. Burt O. Miller. + +PRIVATES. + + Alfred M. Averill. + Dillard Adams. + A. E. Andrews. + A. W. Bailey. + F. A. Beall. + A. W. Blanchard. + R. M. Booker. + Jno. M. Bunch. + Thos. Burgess. + Milton A. Brown. + A. J. Burroughs. + Wm. Bryson. + Chas. Catlin. + H. A. Cherry. + H. B. Clark. + F. W. Clark. + Wm. H. Clark. + Walter A. Clark. + W. J. Cloyd. + Jno. R Coffin. + E. F. Clayton. + C. S. Crag. + Wm. Craig. + J. B. Crumpton. + Wilberforce Daniel. + Ed. Darby. + Joseph T. Derry. + J. J. Doughty. + C. W. Doughty. + W. R. Doyle. + B. B. Doyle. + Jno. P. Duncan. + S. H. Dye. + E. A. Dunbar. + Geo. W. Evans. + Robert C. Eve. + Sterling C. Eve. + L. F. Flming. + H. Clay Foster. + W. Harrison Foster. + John P. Foster. + Willie Goodrich. + J. P. Goodrich. + C. M. Goodwin. + W. A. Griffin. + A. G. Hall. + E. H. Hall. + Wm. Haight. + J. J. Harrell. + Frank M. Hight. + Jno. C. Hill. + Harry Hughes. + Jno. T. Hungerford. + V. G. Hitt. + H. B. Jackson. + W. F. Jackson. + A. M. Jackson. + Whit G. Johnson. + W. H. Jones. + W. E. Jones. + G. A. Jones. + Matt Kean. + W. H. Kennedy. + W. T. Lamar. + Jas. Lamar. + Geo. G. Leonhardt. + D. W. Little. + P. E. Love. + A. D. Marshall. + C. O. Marshall. + Geo. W. McLaughlin. + C. E. McCarthy. + J. T. McGran. + D. W. Mongin. + R. B. Morris. + W. B. Morris. + Z. B. Morris. + W. J. Miller. + Josiah Miller. + Geo. D. Mosher. + M. C. Murphey. + W. E. Peay. + A. Pilcher. + J. T. Newberry. + F. M. Pope. + Geo. P. Pournelle. + W. P. Ramsey. + J. T. Ratcriff. + J. H. Revill. + A. J. Rhodes. + J. A. Rhodes. + J. P. Roberts. + J. C. Roebuck. + W. A. Roll. + J. W. Rigsby. + S. H. Sheppard. + L. W. Shed. + L. W. Stroud. + Fred W. Stoy. + Jno. W. Stoy. + Alonzo Smith. + Miles Turpin. + Thomas J. Tutt. + J. E. Thomas. + Geo. J. Verdery. + R. W. Verdery. + G. F. Wing. + B. H. Watkins. + C. D. Wakins. + Jas. E. Wilson. + Jas. D. Wilson. + Walter A. Wiley. + Wm. T. Williams. + W. T. Winn. + Wm. Whiting. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +REORGANIZATION WITH 12th GA. BATTALION. + + +On May 1, 1862, the Oglethorpes were re-organized at Camp Jackson, on +the Carnes Road, near Augusta, Ga., as an artillery company under Capt. +J. V. H. Allen. Three other companies from the 1st Ga. Regiment, and the +"DeKalb Rifles" from Stone Mountain, joined us and the 12th Ga. +Battalion was formed, with Major Henry D. Capers as commander. We +remained at this camp drilling for two months, and our parade ground +became a favorite afternoon resort for the young ladies of Augusta. + + +A "LITTLE LONG." + +Among the fair visitors, who honored us by their presence, were the +Misses Long, two pretty and attractive girls, who were guests at the +Savage Place, near our quarters. Miles Turpin, one of the company wits, +fell a victim to the charms of the younger one, who in physical make-up +was rather petite. When his attack had reached the acute stage, he was +being joked about it one day and gave vent to his feelings in the +following revised version of Goldsmith's familiar lines: + + I want but little here below, + But want "that little Long." + +Miles was not the only wit in the Company. Every branch in Phil Schley's +family tree must have shed puns as an ordinary tree sheds leaves when +touched by the breath of winter. Lon Fleming was crossing the grounds at +Camp Jackson one day with a chair slung over his left shoulder, when he +was hailed by Phil. "Lon, you are most cheerful man I've seen today." +"Yes," said Lon, "over the left." Lest some of my readers may fail to +see the point, it may be prudent to say that when Phil and I were boys, +"chair" in the piney woods was pronounced "cheer." This was not one of +Phil's best nor, perhaps, one of his worst. It would probably grade +about "strict low middling." Aside from this hereditary punning +propensity, from which my old comrade has reasonably recovered, I am +glad to recall his unfailing good humor and his readiness to meet the +dangers and hardships of the service bravely and without a murmur. + + +THE 12th GA. BATTALION FLAG. + +On July 4th, '62, Miss Pinkie Evans, of Augusta, presented to the +battalion a beautiful silk battle flag made, it was said, from her +mother's wedding robe. Her patriotic address in making the presentation +was responded to by Maj. Capers, who accepted the colors for the +battalion. + +As the Oglethorpes were transferred from the battalion in the fall of +1862, we had no opportunity of fighting under their banner save at the +skirmish at Huntsville, Tennessee. It was afterwards bravely borne on +many a bloody battlefield, under Evans and Gordon in Maryland and +Virginia. Seven color-bearers were shot down under its silken folds. +During the second heavy bombardment of Fort Sumter, lasting from Oct. 26 +to Dec. 6, 1863, the 12th Ga. Battalion formed a part of its garrison. +On Oct. 31st the flag of the fort was shot down and was replaced by +Serg. Graham, Will Hitt and Bob Swain, of Augusta, then serving with the +12th Ga. Batt. It was shot down again on the same day and its staff so +badly shattered that it could not be hoisted. The same brave men went up +on the parapet, amid the storm of solid shot and shell and raised their +own 12th Ga. flag. When the Confederate line was broken at Cedar Creek, +Serg. Hopps of Crump's company, bore this flag, and disdaining to fly, +he held his ground alone, waving his colors defiantly at the advancing +line of blue until he was killed. Afred Wallen, of the same company, a +beardless boy, but a brave one, saw him fall and running back at the +risk of his own life, tore the flag from its staff and brought it in +safety to his command. It is said these colors were not surrendered at +Appomatox, but were returned to their fair donor unstained save by the +blood of the gallant Baker and King and Stallings and Hopps, who in the +shock of battle had gone down to death under their silken folds. + + +OFF TO THE FRONT + +Buell was threatening Chattanooga, and Maj. Capers was ordered to report +with his battalion to Gen. McCown at that point. Leaving Augusta July +5th in two special trains, we were detained at Ringgold, Ga., for a day +or two by a collision with a freight train, which resulted in the death +of ten or twelve men and fifteen or twenty horses, and in injuries more +or less serious to a larger number. Reaching Chattanooga July 8, we +remained there ten days and were then transferred by N. & C. R. R. to a +point near Shell Mound, Ala. Picketing here for two weeks in front of +Buell's army we returned to Chattanooga Aug. 1, and on the next day left +for Knoxville with the intention, I suppose, of accompanying Kirby +Smith's army into Kentucky. Two days at Knoxville and we are off for +Clinton. En route a courier brings information that the enemy has +attacked our forces at Tazewell, twenty miles away, and we are ordered +to hurry forward to reinforce Gen. Stevenson at that point. An hour +later another dispatch is received that the attack has been repulsed and +we are sidetracked at Clinton to aid in the capture or dispersion of the +7th Tenn. Federal regiment, then occupying a fortified camp near +Huntsville, Tenn. + + +COL. HOGELAND AND HIS WAR DIARY. + +How strangely human events sometimes shape themselves without apparent +effort to control them. Sitting in my home some weeks ago in the dreamy +haze of an October Sunday afternoon, there chanced to fall under my eye +in the editorial column of a Sunday school paper the statement that Col. +Alexander Hogeland of Louisville, Ky., had visited Nashville, Tenn., in +the interest of the "Curfew Law." Other items in the column caused a +momentary disturbance of my brain cells, then passed away to be recalled +no more. But this one lingered in my memory and would not down, for +thereby hangs the following tale: + +The expedition against the Federal force at Huntsville was commanded by +Col. Gracie, of Alabama, and consisted of the 12th Ga. Battalion, a +portion of an Alabama regiment, and a few cavalry. Leaving Clinton at 4 +p. m., Aug. 12, we camped near Jacksonboro on the night of the 13th and +on the morning of the 14th started for Huntsville by a rough mountain +path that crossed a spur of the Cumberland range. After a toilsome tramp +we halted at 9 p. m. and after an hour's rest were again on the march. +The path is narrow and the overarching trees shut out every ray of +starlight. Groping along in the dark we follow the tramp of the feet in +front, reaching out occasionally to touch the file just ahead, lest our +ears have deceived us. Our pathway passes on the edge of a precipitous +bluff and my brother in Crump's company loses his footing and topples +over it. The fall fails to disable him, but he loses his hat and in the +darkness is unable to recover it. Hatless he rejoins the command and +the procession moves on. Just before daylight we halt for another rest. +At 5 a. m. we resume the march and in the early morning reach the +vicinity of the Federal camp. Deploying into line of battle we advance +through a belt of woodland and entering a cornfield beyond, our right is +fired upon by the Federal pickets. As we drive them in a scattering fire +is kept up until we come in sight of their camp and near it a rude log +fort built upon the crest of a tall hill, over whose precipitous slope +the forest trees have been felled, making an almost impassable abattis. +While arrangements are being made for an attack upon the fort, Tom Tutt +and the writer, who are both on the color guard, see a thin line four or +five hundred yards to our right, near a church, and whom we take to be +the pickets, who had been resisting our advance. Tom, whose rule is to +shoot at everything in sight, selects his man and fires and the writer +follows suit. We load and fire again. After a few rounds I become +convinced that it is a portion of Capt. Crump's company, which had been +detached and sent to the right and in which I have two brothers. As Tom +raises his gun again I said, "Hold on, Tom, you are shooting at your own +company." He made no reply and continued firing until the order to +advance was given. A deep gully lay partially in our front and as its +passage caused some confusion in the ranks, we halted to reform the +line. Crump's company was hurrying forward to join us and before they +had reached their position in line Col. Gracie gave the command, +"Charge." From underneath the head logs of the fort the Belgian rifles +were barking at us and the heavy balls they carried whistled by us like +young shells. We were waiting for Crump, and Gracie, ignorant of the +cause of the delay, shouted: "What is the matter with the 12th Ga. +Battalion?" Just then a lone cavalryman passed the line on foot and with +drawn sabre made his way towards the fort with the evident intention of +capturing the whole business himself. Crump's company came up at a +"double quick" and the whole line moved forward with a yell. Sergeant +Harwell, our color-bearer, had never been under fire and the boys, +uncertain as to his grit, had asked Tom Tutt, who did not know what fear +meant, to take the colors when the charge began. Tom made the effort to +seize them, but Harwell, a tall, gaunt man, and brother of two honored +Methodist preachers, declined to give them up and bore them forward +bravely. As we advanced the fire from the fort suddenly ceased and we +thought they were waiting to see the whites of our eyes. Reaching the +steep ascent we climbed up over logs and brush until the fort was +gained. Lieut. Joe Taliaferro, of Augusta, was the first to enter, and +with his sword cut down the floating flag. The fort was empty--not a +Yankee to be seen. Under cover of the thick forest growth in their rear +they had hid to other haunts, under the idea, perhaps, that + + "He who fights and runs away, + Will live to fight another day." + +Their camp, located just below the fort gave ample evidence of their +hasty exit. Our attack was something of a "surprise party" and their +unfinished morning meal was boiling, baking and frying on the camp +fires. We were unexpected and uninvited guests and yet our reception was +warm, although unfriendly. Our all-night tramp enabled us to do full +justice to the breakfast they had prepared, as well as the sugar cured +hams and other supplies their commissary had kindly left for our use. We +appropriated an ample outfit of blankets, canteens, haversacks, etc., +and burned what we could not carry away. + +The skirmish on our side, and probably on theirs was almost bloodless. +W. W. Bussey, of the Oglethorpes, and Garyhan, of Crump's company, were +slightly wounded. I recall no other casualty except the killing of a +nice horse ridden by Col. Gracie. + +And now what has all this to do with the item I read in a Sunday school +paper? Simply this: Among the assets and effects secured that day by the +writer from the officer's tent and administered upon without "Letter's +Testamentary" was a pocket diary belonging to Capt. Alexander Hogeland, +of the 10th Indiana Regt. On reading the paragraph referred to, the +coincidence in names suggested the possibility that Col. Alexander +Hogeland, of Louisville, Ky., "Father of the Curfew," might have been +Capt. Alexander Hogeland, of the 10th Ind. Regt., whose property had +been in my possession for thirty-seven years. To test the matter, I +wrote Col. Hogeland and from his reply the following extract is taken: +"Your deeply interesting favor of the 4th inst received and for the +information it contains accept my hearty thanks. I am the identical +person referred to in your letter. Was first lieutenant Co. D, 10th +Indiana Regiment in the West Virginia campaign and afterwards Captain of +Co. G. In May, '62, was made lieutenant-colonel of 7th East Tennessee +Regiment, commanded by Col. Wm. Cliff, and stationed at Huntsville, +Tenn., in August, '62. We lost everything on the occasion you refer to +and this is the first information I have received as to the whereabouts +of my effects. I am very glad to avail myself of your proffer to return +my diary and enclose herewith necessary postage." Col. Hogeland's diary +was duly returned to him and in acknowledging its receipt he took +occasion to thank me for looking him up after all these years and +assured me that he would endeavor to return that kindness by visiting +Augusta in the early future and giving the citizens of this goodly city +the benefit of the "Curfew Law." It will furnish additional evidence of +the truthfulness of the opening statement in this sketch if the capture +of a war diary nearly forty years ago, should result in the adoption of +a "Curfew" ordinance in Augusta. + +In illustration of the adage that "Every dog has his day," it may not be +amiss to say that Col. Hogeland's escapade from Fort Cliff at the +instance of four companies of the old First Georgia Regiment, was only +partial compensation for the 100-mile run made by those self-same +companies from Laurel Hill, Va., in '61, with Capt. Hogeland's regiment +as one of the exciting causes. + + +JACKSBORO. + +On our return from Huntsville, Joe Derry and J. W. Lindsay, of the +Oglethorpes, unable to keep pace with the command, straggled and were +captured by "bush-whackers." Joe was exchanged a few days, later, +Lindsay preferring to remain a prisoner. After a short stay at Clinton +we moved up to Jacksboro and remained there until Oct. 9th, guarding +Bragg's line of communications. Our service at this place was +uneventful. Buell's army had retreated into Kentucky and there was +nothing to disturb our "otium cum dignitate" save a moderate amount of +picket duty and the one subject ever uppermost in the soldier's +mind--"rations." The following incidents of our stay at this camp +furnish some illustrations of this fact: + + +THE PARSON AND THE GRAVY. + +A continuous diet of salt bacon had made the boys ravenous for fresh +meat and as war has no tendency to strengthen respect for property +rights where a soldier's appetite is involved, they were not, as a rule, +very scrupulous as to the methods adopted to procure a supply. The means +most in use at the date referred to were known in camp parlance as "flip +ups." As no encyclopedia of my acquaintance describes this mechanical +contrivance and its specifications have never encumbered the records of +the patent office, it may not be amiss to say that it consisted of a +bent sapling, a slip noose with a trigger attachment and a bait of corn. +The unsuspecting porker, tempted by the bait, sprang the trigger and the +sapling freed from its confinement, sought to resume its normal +position, while the shote caught in the noose and partially suspended in +the air gave noisy notice that the game was up. + +On one occasion the catch, by right of discovery or otherwise, fell to a +mess, of which Parson H----, a minister of the Presbyterian persuasion, +was a member. When dinner was served that day a dish of smoking pork +chops was passed to the Parson, but he declined with the remark that his +conscience did not allow him to eat stolen meat. As the meal progressed +the fragrant odor from the dish struck his olfactories with increasingly +tempting force and he finally passed up his tin plate and said: "I'll +take a little of the gravy if you please." He had made a brave fight for +principle and his final compromise was probably due to the fact that +Paul's vow, "If meat make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh while +the world standth," failed to include gravy in its inhibition. He may +have been further influenced by the reflection that his refusal to +indulge could not possibly restore the porker to life again. As Jim +Wilson said, + + "'Twas Greece (grease), but living Greece no more." + +This incident recalls the fact that Jim and the writer had on this +subject the same scruples as the Parson, and in order to place ourselves +on the line of strongest resistance we entered into an agreement with +each other binding ourselves to total abstinence from all meat of +questionable origin until mutually released from the obligation. The +compact was religiously observed until Hood's campaign in Tennessee in +the winter of '64. Transportation was scarce and rations were scarcer. +On one occasion two ears of corn were issued to each soldier. Some wag +in the company, probably Elmore Dunbar, seeing that horse rations were +being furnished sang out, "come and get your fodder." On another +occasion beef was issued but no bread. We had neither lard to fry nor +salt to season, but our digestive apparatus was not then fastidious as +to condiments. It was unimportant whether it was taken "cum grano salis" +or without, so the void was filled. + +A fire was built of dried limbs from a brush pile and the beef placed in +a shallow frying pan to stew, Frank Stone being the chef de cuisine. The +mess sat around with anxious faces and whetted appetites. Finally one of +them, in shifting his position, struck the end of a limb on which the +pan was resting and dumped the whole business into the dirt and ashes. +The catastrophe placed us rather than the beef in a stew and we went to +bed supperless. + +Under such conditions it is, perhaps, but natural that the case should +be re-opened, a new trial granted and a verdict rendered to follow +Paul's other injunction, "Whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no +questions for conscience sake." + +I can not recall positively that either of us ever indulged even as to +gravy, but I think I can say that neither of us was particepts criminis +in the act of impressment. If guilty, we were only accessories after the +fact. + + +"THEM MOLASSES." + +During our stay at Jacksboro the farmers in that section were making +sorghum syrup, which most of them called "them molasses." Near one of +our picket posts lived a Baptist minister named Lindsay, from whose +better half we purchased vegetables and other edibles. On one occasion I +was unable to make exact change and left owing her 12 1-2 cents in +Confederate money. Two weeks later I was on picket again and paid her +the balance due. She was so much surprised that a soldier should have +the moral sense to recognize and meet such an obligation that she formed +a very exalted estimate of my honesty and when I afterwards went to buy +some of "them molasses" she requested her husband to take it from a +barrel she had reserved for her own use "for," he said "she likes 'em +powerful thick." I had occasion to regret her kindness, for it was so +thick that it was with difficulty that I could get it either into or out +of my canteen, and in view of her partiality I did not have the heart +to suggest that a thinner grade would be preferred. She was a kind and +motherly soul, and yet some of the soldiers would steal from her. To +prevent or minimize their depredations she cooped a noisy rooster +underneath her bedroom as a sort of watch dog to notify her of any +midnight foragers. A few mornings afterwards she awoke to find, aside +from other losses, that her feathered sentinel had been caught asleep +upon his post by some soldier, who was chicken-mouthed, if he was not +chicken-hearted. + + +RATIONS. + +Rations as one of the sinews of war, deserve something more than +incidental mention in these memories and as no more favorable +opportunity may occur, it may be as well to give them more extended +notice in connection with the incident just related. + +Confederate rations during the early years of the war were as I +recollect them, not only fair in quality but ample in quantity. As +evidence of this fact I remember that the boys were sometimes so +indifferent when rations hour arrived that it was difficult to induce +them to draw their allowance promptly. Charles Catlin was our company +commissary and I can hear now his clear, sharp tones as they rang out on +the frosty evening air among the Virginia mountains in '61, "Come up and +get your beef. Are you going to keep a man standing out here in the cold +all night?" + +As the war progressed the resources of the Confederacy, limited to its +own production by the cordon of hostile gunboats that girded its ports, +became more and more heavily taxed and its larder grew leaner and +leaner. But little wheat was raised in the Gulf States and few beeves +except in Texas. We were reduced largely to meal and bacon rations, and +the supply of these sometimes recalled the instructions in regard to +loading a squirrel rifle given by its owner to a friend to whom he had +loaned it: "Put in very little powder, if any." Cooking squads were +detailed from each company and once a day the wagons would drive up and +issue three small corn pones to each man. Some of the boys, whose hunger +was chronic, would begin on theirs and never stop until the last pone +had been eaten. + +Bob Winter belonged to this class and eight or ten hours after his daily +rations had disappeared Dick Morris would draw a pone or half a pone +from his haversack and say, "Bob, here's some bread if you want it," and +Bob would reply, "Dick, I don't want to take it if you need it," and +Dick would answer, "Bob, I've told you a thousand times that I wouldn't +give you anything that I wanted," and Bob would succumb and so would the +bread. + +When our changes of base were rapid the squads would cook up two or +three days' rations and in hot weather the bread would mould and when +broken open the fungus growth looked very much like cobweb. Some of the +pones had also the appearance of slow convalescence from chill and +fever. Under such conditions it could hardly be considered very +palatable except upon the idea of a rustic friend of mine, who, in +commending the virtues of India Cholagogue, was asked as to its +palatability. "O," said he, "it's very palatable, but the meanest stuff +to take you ever saw." + +Most of the boys had left well-to-do homes to enter the service and +while they bore privation and hunger without a murmur, there would +sometimes come into their hard lives a craving for the good things they +had left behind. Gathered about the camp-fire, cold and tired and +hungry, they would discuss the dish that each liked best and their lips +would grow tremulous as they thought of the day when hope would become +realization. Joe Derry, I remember, could never be weaned away from the +memory of his mother's nice mince pies and black-berry jam. I can see +his eyes dance now as he magnified their merits. Bob Winter's ultimate +thule in the gastronomic line was sliced potato pie, while Jim Thomas +would never tire of singing the praises of 'possum baked with potatoes. +Louis Picquet said to him one day, "Jim, if I ever get home again I am +going to have one dinner of 'possum and 'taters if it kills me." But it +was left to the epicurean taste of John Henry Casey to reach the acme of +these unsatisfied longings when, recognizing the value of quantity as +well as quality he declared that nothing less would satisfy him than "a +chicken pie big enough to trot a horse and buggy around on." + +But for extending this ration sketch to an irrational length I might +have said something of the May Pop leaves that we cooked for "greens" in +North Georgia, of the half hardened corn transformed into meal by means +of an improvised grater prepared by driving nails through the side of a +tin canteen, of the pork issued to us in Tennessee with the hair still +on it, of the hog skins that we ate at Inka, Miss., and of many other +such things, but they would probably fail to interest the reader as they +did the actors in those far off days. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +TRANSFERRED TO THE COAST. + + +Our enlistment as artillery had so far proven a delusion and a snare. +The Confederacy had no guns with which to equip us and we had found no +opportunity to capture any. During our stay at Jacksboro Capt. Allen +succeeded in securing from the War Department the transfer of the +Oglethorpes to the 2nd South Carolina Artillery, then in service at +Charleston. Oct. 9, '62, at 6 p. m. we fell into line, gave three cheers +for our late companions in arms and as the setting sun crimsoned with +its last rays the lofty summit of the Cumberland, we filed out of the +village to the tune of + + "We are sons of old Aunt Dinah, + And we go where we've amind to + And we stay where we're inclined to, + And we don't care a----cent." + +and our sojourn in Jacksonboro was a thing of the past. + +Reaching Augusta Oct. 13, we were dismissed until the 23rd, when we went +into camp at the Bush Ground, near the city. Why we did not proceed at +once to our command in Charleston has always been to the writer an +unsolved problem. We remained in Augusta until Dec. 9, when orders were +received to report to Gen. H. W. Mercer, at Savannah. Col. Geo. A. +Gordon, in command of the 13th Ga. Battalion was endeavoring to raise it +to a regiment. As he lacked two companies and as the Oglethorpes had 120 +men on its roll an effort was made to divide the company. On Dec. 11 a +vote was taken, the result showing a majority against division. Dec. 15 +we were formally attached to the 63rd Ga. Regiment, ranking as Co. A. +Our quarters were located just in the rear of Thunderbolt Battery and +here we remained for more than twelve months in the discharge of +semi-garrison duty. + + +A STUDY IN INSECT LIFE. + +The period covered by our service on the coast formed a sort of oasis in +our military life. The Federal gunboats were kind enough to extend +social courtesies to us only at long range and longer intervals. We +fought and bled, it is true, but not on the firing line. The foes that +troubled us most, were the fleas and sand fleas and mosquitoes that +infested that sections. They never failed to open the spring campaign +promptly and from their attacks by night and day no vigilance on the +picket line could furnish even slight immunity. If the old time practice +of venesection as a therapeutic agent was correct in theory our hygienic +condition ought to have been comparatively perfect. During the "flea +season" it was not an unusual occurrence for the boys after fruitless +efforts to reach the land of dreams, to rise from their couches, divest +themselves of their hickory shirts and break the silence of the midnight +air by vigorously threshing them against a convenient tree in the hope +of finding temporary "surcease of sorrow" from this ever-present +affliction. It was said that if a handful of sand were picked up half +of it would jump away. I can not vouch for the absolute correctness of +this statement, but I do know that I killed, by actual count, one +hundred and twenty fleas in a single blanket on which I had slept the +preceding night and I can not recall that the morning was specially +favorable for that species of game either. I remember further that as we +had in camp no "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals," I +corked up an average specimen of these insects to see how long he would +live without his daily rations. At the end of two weeks he had grown a +trifle thin, but was still a very lively corpse. But these were not the +only "ills, that made calamity of so long a life," for as Moore might +have said, if his environment had been different, + + "Oft in the stilly night, + Ere slumber's chain had bound me, + I felt the awful bite + Of 'skeeters buzzing 'round me." + +Their bills were presented on the first day of the day of the month and, +unfortunately, on every other day. At our picket stations on Wilmington +and White marsh Islands and at the "Spindles" on the river where the +young alligators amused themselves by crawling up on the bank and +stealing our rations, there was a larger variety known as gallinippers, +from whose attacks the folds of a blanket thrown over our faces was not +full protection. + +But there were still others. On dress parade in the afternoons, while +the regiment was standing at "parade rest" and no soldier was allowed to +move hand or foot until Richter's band, playing Capt. Sheppards Quick +step, had completed its daily tramp to the left of the line and back to +its position on the right, the sandflies seemed to be aware of our +helplessness and "in prejudice of good order and military discipline" +were especially vicious in their attack upon every exposed part of our +anatomy. Capt. C. W. Howard, I remember, was accustomed to fill his ears +with cotton as a partial protection. I have seen Charlie Goetchius, +while on the officers' line in front of the regiment, squirm and shiver +in such apparent agony that the veins in his neck seemed ready to burst. +Neither whistling minies, nor shrieking shells, nor forced marches with +no meal in the barrel nor oil in the cruse ever seemed to disturb his +equanimity in the slightest degree. Quietly and modestly and bravely he +met them all. But the sandfly brigade was a little too much for him. + +In addition to these discomforts, the salt water marsh, near which we +were camped, never failed to produce a full crop of chills and fever as +well as of that peculiar species of crabs known as "fiddlers." Gen. +Early was once advised by one of his couriers that the Yankees were in +his rear. "Rear the d--l," said old Jubal, "I've got no rear. I'm front +all round." These fiddlers seemed to be in the same happy condition. +Their physical conformation was such that no matter from what side they +were approached, they retired in an exactly opposite direction without +the necessity of changing front. But of the chills. Of the one hundred +and fifteen men in our ranks only three escaped an attack of this +disease. The writer was fortunately one of the three. One man had +fifty-three chills before a furlough was allowed him. Quinine was scarce +and boneset tea and flannel bandages saturated with turpentine were used +as substitutes. Whiskey was sometimes issued as a preventative. In +pursuance of a resolution formed on entering the service I never tasted +the whiskey and as soon as my habit on this line became known, I was not +subjected to the trouble of looking up applicants for the extra ration. +The dearth in medical supplies recalls other facts showing the straits +to which the Confederacy was reduced on other lines by the blockade of +its ports. Letters written in '63, and now in my possession, show that +my brother, then Assistant Surgeon at Tallahassee, Fla., could not +purchase in that place a pair of suspenders nor a shirt collar--that my +mess could not buy an oven in Savannah, though willing to pay $30 for it +and that I ordered shoes for Capt. Picquet, and other members of the +company from a Mr. Campbell at Richmond Factory, as no suitable ones +could be had in Savannah. + +Our service at Thunderbolt was entirely devoid of any exciting incident +or episode in a martial way. If the company fired a single shot at a +Yankee during our stay I can not recall it. On one occasion 8 or 10 +volunteers from each regiment stationed there were wanted for "a secret +and dangerous expedition," as it was termed in the order. There was a +ready response from the Oglethorpes for the entire number wanted from +the regiment. Among those volunteers I recall the names of W. J. Steed, +J. E. Wilson, R. B. Morris, J. C. Kirkpatrick and F. I. Stone. We never +knew whether it was a contemplated attack on Fort Pulaski or the capture +of a Federal gunboat, as the expedition failed to materialize. + +April 18, '63, Henry Wombke of the Oglethorpes, was drowned while +bathing in Warsaw Sound, and on July 12, '63, John Quincy Adams, while +returning from picket at the Spindles was accidentally shot by George +Mosher, who had gone up on the boat to kill alligators. + +Some official changes took place in the company during our stay at this +camp. To fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Lieut. W. G. +Johnson, Charles T. Goetchius was elected, but I have no record of the +date. On July 5, '63, the death of Major John R. Giles resulted in the +promotion on July 12, of Capt. J. V. H. Allen to that field office in the +regiment. Louis Picquet became captain of the company, and on July 14, +Geo. W. McLaughlin was elected Jr. 2nd. Lieut. + +As a part of the "res gestae" of our soldier life at Thunderbolt, the +following incident may be of some interest: + + +SOAP AND WATER. + +My earliest recollections of Thunderbolt is associated with a fruitless +effort to mix turpentine soap and salt water. We had reached the place +tired and dusty and dirty. As soon as the ranks were broken, the boys +divested themselves of their clothing and soaping their bodies +thoroughly plunged into the salt water for a bath. The result may be +imagined. The dirt and dust accumulated in streaks, which no amount of +scrubbing could dislodge for it stuck closer than a postage stamp. + + +A SUGARED TONGUE. + +Col. Geo. A. Gordon was a pleasant, persuasive speaker and in his +address to the company urging its division so as to complete the quota +necessary for a regimental organization he held out to us a tempting +array of promises as to our treatment if his wishes were complied with. +An Irish member of his old company heard the speech and in commenting on +it said, "Faith, the sugar on his tongue is an inch thick." + +The Oglethorpes, though serving as infantry, had retained their +artillery organization and Gordon in his plea for a division, said that +the incorporation of such an organization into an infantry regiment +would be an anomaly--that we would be "nyther fish, flesh nor fowl," +giving the English pronunciation to the word "neither." Some time +afterward the Colonel was making his Sunday morning inspection of +quarters and had reached Elmore Dunbar's tent. As some of Dunbar's mess +were sick, he had hoisted a yellow handkerchief over the tent and with a +piece of charcoal had placed on its front the sign, "Wayside Home." +Gordon saluted as he came up, and then noticing the sign said, +"Sergeant, what is your bill of fare today," "Nyther fish, flesh nor +fowl," said Dunbar, and the Colonel smiled and went his way. + + +FIRE AND FALL BACK + +The monotony of garrison duty and our comparative exemption from danger +during our stay at Thunderbolt, developed the spirit of mischief in the +boys to an inordinate degree and no opportunity for its exercise was +allowed to go unimproved. Bob Lassiter, while off duty one day, was +taking a nap on a "bunk" in his cabin. His unhosed feet protruded from +the window, probably with a view to fumigation by the salt sea breeze. +Jim McLaughlin passed by and taking in the situation called Jim Thomas. +Twisting and greasing a strip of paper they placed it gently between +Bob's unsuspecting toes, fired the ends and then made themselves scarce +in that locality. As the lambent flame "lipped the Southern strand" of +Bob's pedal extremities, he, doubtless, felt in the language of Henry +Timrod, "Strange tropic warmth and hints of summer seas" and probably +dreamed of "A Hot Time in the Old Town" that day. But if so his dreams +were short-lived. With a yell of pain he fell back on the floor of his +cabin, and then, + + He hotly hurried to and fro, + To find the author of his woe; + The search was vain for chance was slim + To fasten guilt on either Jim. + + +SKIRMISHING FOR PIE + +Dessert was not a standing item on our army bill of fare, and when, by +chance or otherwise, our menu culminated in such a course, moderation in +our indulgence was one of the lost arts. One day in '63, W. J. Steed and +I, with several other comrades chanced to be in Savannah at the dinner +hour. Our rations for a long time had known no change from the daily +round of corn bread and fat bacon, and we decided to vary this monotony +by a meal at the Screven House. The first course was disposed of and +dessert was laid before us. Steed finished his but his appetite for pie +was still unsatisfied. Calling a waiter he said, "Bring me some more +pie." "We furnish only one piece," said the waiter. + +The first course plates had not been removed from the table, but simply +shoved aside. The waiter passed on and Steed pushed the dessert plate +from him and gently drawing the other back in his front, awaited +results. Another waiter passed and thinking Steed had not been served, +brought him another piece of pie. This being disposed of the program was +again repeated and still another waiter supplied dessert. The shifting +process was continued until his commissary department could hold no more +and he was forced to retire upon the laurels he had won in the field of +gastronomic diplomacy. + + +STEED AND THE SUGAR + +My friend's penchant for pie may have had its influence in the origin of +a problem in the company, which like the squaring of the circle has +never received a satisfactory solution. He held during his term of +service the office of commissary sergeant for the company, a position in +which it was difficult at any time and impossible when rations were +scarce, to give entire satisfaction. These difficulties in his case +were, perhaps, enhanced by the peculiarities of his poetic temperament, +which caused him to live among the stars and gave him a distaste for the +bread and meat side of life, except possibly as to pie. Try as +faithfully as he would to show strict impartiality in the distribution, +there was sometimes a dim suspicion that the bone in the beef fell +oftener to other messes than his own and that the scanty rations of +sugar issued weekly were heaped a little higher when his mess had in +contemplation a pie or pudding on the following day. These suspicions +finally culminated in an inquiry, which became a proverb of daily use; +an inquiry, which formed the concluding argument in every camp +discussion, whether on a disputed point in military tactics or on the +reconciliation of geological revelation with the Mosaic cosmogony; an +inquiry with which Jim McLaughlin and Jim Fleming still salute their +former commissary: "What has that to do with Steed and the sugar?" + +Of course there was never any foundation for such a feeling and probably +never any real suspicion of favoritism in the matter. These things +formed the minor key of our soldier life and served as they were +intended, to enliven its sometimes dull monotony. My friend, and I am +glad to have been honored so long by his friendship, will pardon, I +know, in the gentleness of his heart a revival of these memories. Aside +from the faithful discharge of the difficult duties of his position, it +gives me pleasure to add my willing testimony to the silent witness of +his armless sleeve, that on the firing line and in all the sphere of +duty, to which the service called him, he was every inch a soldier. + + +"BUTTER ON MY GREENS." + +For the convenience and comfort of the soldiers going to and returning +from their commands, "Wayside Homes" were established at different +points in the Confederacy where free lunches were served by the fair and +willing hands of patriotic young ladies living in the vicinity. A +uniform of grey was the only passport needed. One of these "Homes" was +located at Millen, Ga. Detained there on one occasion, en route to my +command at Thunderbolt I was glad to accept their hospitality. Seated +at the table enjoying the spread they had prepared one of these fair +waiting maids approached me and asked if I would take some butter on my +"greens." My gastronomic record as a soldier had been like Joseph's +coat, "of many colors." I had eaten almost everything from "cush" and +"slapjacks" to raw corn and uncooked bacon. I had made up dough on the +top of a stump for a tray and cooked it on a piece of split hickory for +an oven. I had eaten salt meat to which the government had good title, +and fresh meat to which neither I nor the government had any title, good +or bad. But butter on "greens" was a combination new to my experience +and as my digestive outfit had, during my school days, been troubled +with a dyspeptic trend, I felt compelled to decline such an addition to +a dish that had been boiled with fat bacon. + +Notwithstanding the absence of my friend Steed the supply of pie that +day was short, and with a degree of self-denial, for which I can not now +account, I asked for none. A soldier next me at the table, however, +filed his application and when our winsome waitress returned, she handed +the desert to me and left my neighbor pieless. I could not recall her +fair young face as one I had ever seen before, and I had always been +noted for my lack of personal comeliness. I was at a loss therefore to +understand why the unsolicited discrimination in my favor had been made. +A few minutes later the problem was solved. Standing on the porch after +the meal had ended, this self-same maiden approached me a little timidly +and asked, "When did you hear from your brother Sammie?" She and my +younger brother, it seemed, had been schoolmates, and, as I learned +afterwards, "sweethearts" as well, and the pie business was no longer a +mystery. + +If she still lives as maid or matron and this sketch should meet her +eye, it gives me pleasure to assure her that the fragrance of her kindly +deed though based upon no merit of my own, still lingers lovingly in my +memory, like the echo of "faint, fairy footfalls down blossoming ways." + + +OUR CAMP POET. + +"Dropping into poetry" has not been a peculiarity confined to that +singular creation of Dickens' fancy, "Silag Wegg." While not a +contagious disease, it is said that a majority of men suffer from it at +some period in life. Like measles and whooping cough it usually comes +early, is rarely fatal and complete recovery, as a rule, furnishes +exemption from further attacks, without vaccination. Under these +conditions it is but natural that the Oglethorpes should have had a poet +in their ranks. In fact we had two, James E. Wilson and W. J. Steed, who +has already figured somewhat in these memories, and who was called +Phunie, for short. The latter was, however, only an ex-poet, not +ex-officio, nor ex-cathedra, but ex-post facto. His attack had been +light, very light, a sort of poetical varioloid. He had recovered and so +far as the record shows, there had been no relapse. On the first +appearance of the symptoms he had mounted his "Pegasus," which consisted +of a stack of barrels in rear of his father's barn, and after an hour's +mental labor, he rose and reported progress, but did not ask leave to +sit again. The results are summed up in the following poetic gem: + + "Here sits Phunie on a barrel, + With his feet on another barrel." + +He has always claimed that while the superficial reader might find in +these lines an apparent lack of artistic finish, with some possible +defects as to metre and an unfortunate blending of anapestic and iambic +verse, the rhyme was absolutely perfect. I have been unable to discover +in them the rhythmic and liquid cadence that marks Buchannan Reade's +"Drifting," or the perfection in measure attributed by Poe to Byron's +"Ode" to his sister, yet my tender regard for my old comrade disinclines +me to take issue with him as to the merits of this, the sole offspring +of his poetic genius. My inability to find it in any collection of +poetical quotations has induced me to insert it here with the hope of +rescuing it from a fate of possibly undeserved oblivion. + +Jim Wilson's case was different. His was a chronic attack. "He lisped in +numbers for the numbers came." As a poet he was not only a daisy, but, +as Tom Pilcher would say, he was a regular geranium. I regret that my +memory has retained, with a single exception, only fragments of his many +wooings of the muse. + +A young lady friend, Miss Eve, of Nashville, asked from Jim a +christening contribution to an album she had just purchased. He was +equal to the occasion. The man and the hour had met. He was in it from +start to finish. He filled every page in the book with original verse. I +recall now only the following stanza: + + "Newton, the man of meditation, + The searcher after hidden cause, + Who first discovered gravitation + And ciphered out attractions laws, + Could not, with all his cogitation, + Find rules to govern woman's jaws." + +But his special forte was parody. A competitive examination was ordered +at Thunderbolt in '63 to fill the position of second sergeant in the +company. After studying Hardee's Tactics for a week Jim relieved his +feelings in the following impromptu effort: + + Tell me not the mournful numbers + From a "shoulder" to a "prime," + For I murmur in my slumbers + Make two "motions in one time." + +The Oglethorpes, though serving as infantry had clung tenaciously to +their artillery organization and to the red stripes and chevrons which +marked the heavier arm of the service. On our assignment to Gordon's +regiment, the Colonel had made a very strong appeal to us to divide the +company and to discard our artillery trimmings. At the next Sunday +morning inspection Jim's tent bore a placard with this inscription, +intended for the Colonel's eye: + + "You may cheat or bamboozle us as much as you will, + But the sign of artillery will hang round us still." + +Probably his masterpiece was a parody on "Maryland," written at +Jacksonboro, Tenn., on the eve of our transfer from the 12th Ga. +Battalion. That the reader may understand the personal allusion in the +verses it is necessary to say that Edgar Derry, Jim Russell, Ed Clayton +and Alph Rogers had been detailed by Col. Capers to fill certain staff +positions with the battalion; that Miles Turpin was company drummer and +Stowe--whose camp sobriquet was "Calline," was fifer; that in the +skirmish at Huntsville, Tenn., W. W. Bussey, who was known in camp as +"Busky," had been shot in the temple; that before the final charge on +the fort, Col. Capers in crossing a ditch had mired in its bottom and +had found some difficulty in extricating himself; that the war horse of +the male persuasion ridden by Col. Gracie had been killed in the +skirmish and that Randolph was Secretary of War. When the transfer had +been effected it was uncertain whether the detailed men would retain +their position or would return to the company, and the following verses +were written by Jim as an appeal to them to go with us: + + Come 'tis the red dawn of the day, + Here's your mule, + Come, details, join our proud array, + Here's your mule. + With Clayton panting for the fray, + With Rogers urging on that bay, + With Derry bold and Russell gay, + Here's your mule. Oh! Here's your mule. + + Come for your limbs are stout and strong, + Here's your mule, + Come for your loafing does you wrong, + Here's your mule, + Come with your muskets light and long, + Rejoin the crowd where you belong, + And help us sing this merry song, + Here's your mule, Oh! Here's your mule. + + Dear fellows break your office chains, + Here's your mule, + The "Web-feet" should not call in vain, + Here's your mule, + But if it goes against the grain, + "Sick furlough" is the proud refrain, + By which you may get off again, + Here's your mule. Oh! Here's your mule. + + We trust you will not from us scud, + Here's your mule, + And nip your glory in the bud, + Here's your mule, + Remember "Busky" bathed in blood, + Remember Capers stuck in mud, + And gallant Gracie's dying stud, + Here's your mule, Oh! Here's your mule. + + Ah, though you may awhile stay mum, + Here's your mule, + To "Calline's" fife and Turpin's drum, + Here's your mule, + When orders come from Randolph grum, + You will not then be deaf nor dumb, + Ah, then we know you'll come, you'll come, + Here's your mule, Oh! Here's your mule. + +And now in conclusion, I am unwilling that my friend, Jim Wilson should +be judged solely by these rhymes. If any allusion in them sounds harshly +to ears polite, it must be remembered that they were intended, only for +soldiers eyes and ears. The son of a Presbyterian missionary to India, +he was an educated Christian gentleman, one of the brightest and +wittiest men I have ever known, as brave as Julius Caesar and as true to +the flag for which he fought as any man who wore the grey. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE DALTON AND ATLANTA CAMPAIGN. + + +Our service on the coast ended April 28, 1864. On April 23 orders were +received transferring our regiment to Gen. A. R. Wright's Brigade, Army +of Northern Virginia. Gen. H. W. Mercer in command, had been ordered to +report for duty to Gen. Johnston at Dalton, Ga. As Gordon and Mercer +were both Savannah men and their war service to that date had thrown +them together, they succeeded in inducing the War Department to change +our orders and assign us to Johnston's Army. April 28 we left Savannah, +reaching Dalton at 3 a. m. April 30, and on May 4 were attached to Gen. +W. H. T. Walker's division, three miles east of Dalton. On May 7 Sherman +opened his Atlanta campaign and for one hundred days the rattle of +musketry, the roar of cannon, the shrieking of shells and the zip of +minies, grew very familiar to us, if not very amusing. Our first sight +of the enemy was at Rocky Face Ridge, May 9. Our pickets were driven in +and our trenches shelled, causing some casualties in the regiment, but +none in the Oglethorpes. Lieut. Reddick of Co. B, while reading a +newspaper in rear of the trenches was killed by a Federal sharpshooter. +No assault was made on our position, but at three other points in +Johnston's line efforts were made to carry the trenches, though the +attacks were all repulsed. On the same day Sherman, probably +anticipating such a result, began his flanking plan of campaign by +sending McPherson through Snake Creek Gap to threaten Johnston's line of +communications at Resaca. The Federal superiority in numbers at a ratio +of nearly two to one, enabled Sherman to cover Johnston's entire front +and gave him besides a large force with which to conduct his flanking +operations, a policy he pursued persistently and successfully to the end +of the campaign. As it is not my purpose to give the general features of +this campaign, but simply to record the share borne in it by the 63rd +Ga. regiment, I can, perhaps best subserve that purpose by furnishing +the following condensed extracts from my "War Diary" for that period, +elaborating afterward any special features or incidents that may seem to +merit more extended notice. + +May 10. Left trenches 1 a. m., marched to a point 3 miles from Resaca. +(11). Marched to Resaca and returned. (12). Marched to a position one +mile above Calhoun. (13). Quiet. Being unwell, on invitation of Lieut. +Daniel spent the night with Rev. I. S. Hopkins and himself at the house +of his mother in Calhoun. + +14. Battle of Resaca. Rejoined command on its way to the front. Walker's +division held in reserve until 12 p. m. Then ordered up to reinforce +Stewart's division. Exposed to heavy artillery fire while crossing +pontoon bridge at Resaca. Heavy fighting in our front. Enemy repulsed. +10 p. m., marched back through Calhoun to Tanner's Ferry. + +15. In line of battle. Jackson's brigade charged enemy's line at the +Ferry but were repulsed. 10 p. m., returned to Calhoun. + +16. Marched to Tanner's Ferry. Heavy skirmishing between Steven's +brigade and the enemy. Junius T. Steed of the Oglethorpes, wounded. +Slept on our arms. + +17. At 1 a. m. aroused and ordered to fall back to Adairsville. Remained +in line of battle until 12 p. m. + +18. Fell back four miles below Kingston. + +19. Advanced and took position 2 miles from Kingston. Under fire from +sharpshooters and skirmishers H. L. Hill killed and T. F. Burbanks +wounded. 12 or 15 casualties in regiment. Retired to Cass station and +formed line of battle. Johnston's battle order issued. + +20. At 1 a. m. crossed the Etowah and fell back to within two miles of +Altoona. + +21-22. Quiet. (23). Marched five miles in the direction of Dallas. + +24. Aroused at daylight and marched 15 miles, camping near Powder +Springs. + +25. At 1 a. m. marched four miles back. At 2 p. m. moved forward a mile +and formed line of battle. After night moved three miles and bivouacked. + +26. At 3 a. m. went forward and took position in rear of Stewart's +division. Skirmishing in front all day. + +27. Moved to the left near Dallas and then a mile or two to the right. +H. B. Jackson wounded. Oglethorpes and Co. I thrown out as skirmishers. +At 11 p. m. brigade ordered away, leaving us on skirmish line without +support. + +28. Skirmishing all day. Capt. Picquet wounded in leg, A. W. McCurdy in +head. + +29. At 4 p. m. relieved from duty on skirmish line and rejoined regiment +on Ellsbury Ridge. + +30-June 1. Quiet. (2). Heavy rain. Division moved four miles to the +right in rear of Stevenson, slippery march. + +3. Quiet day. At 11 p. m. moved off to the right. Jackson's brigade and +a portion of ours detached in the darkness, lost their way and forced to +lie over till morning. + +4. Rejoined division and built breastworks. Oglethorpes and Co. G on +picket. Skirmishing with the enemy. At 12 p. m. relieved by Wheeler's +cavalry and told to "git," as our army had fallen back. Overtook +regiment after five mile tramp over muddiest road I ever saw. Moved 3 +miles further and took position in rear of Gist's brigade. (6-7). Quiet. + +8. Brigade on picket. 63d Ga. in reserve. + +9-11. Quiet, and rain, rain, rain. + +12. On picket. Wet time. + +13. Brigade on picket. Skirmishing between the lines. + +14. Quiet. (15). Brigade on picket. Shelled by Federal batteries. +Lowry's pickets retired leaving our flank exposed. Took position on left +of Cleburne's division. At 11 p. m. moved to the rear of Lowry's +brigade. + +16. Shelled by the enemy. Some casualties in regiment. + +17. Moved several times. Built breastworks. + +18. Six companies from regiment sent out to reinforce skirmishers. Heavy +fighting between the lines all day. Carroll, Casey, Knox, Miller and +Smith wounded. 25 casualties in other companies of the regiment. +Relieved at 8 p. m. Moved 2 1-2 miles towards Marietta. + +19. Moved up to the summit of a ridge as a picket reserve. At night +moved down in rear of breastworks and then half mile to the right and +had orders to fortify but slept. + +20. Dug trenches on Kennesaw line of defence. Heavy skirmishing and +artillery firing on our right. + +21. Remained in the trenches. Skirmishing in our front. + +22. Artillery duel between the enemy and our batteries on Kennesaw. Six +companies from our regiment sent out on picket line. + +23. Skirmishing on picket line all day. No casualties in Oglethorpes. +Relieved at 8 p. m. + +24-25. Artillery firing and skirmishing. + +26. W. A. Dabney wounded last night in arm while asleep. Seven companies +and a detail of 47 men from the Oglethorpes sent out from the regiment +on picket line. + +27. Battle of Kennesaw began at 8 a. m. and ended at 11:30. Enemy +repulsed all along the line, with heavy loss. Oglethorpes lost +twenty-three in killed, wounded and captured. Loss in regiment 88. + +28-July 1. Quiet. (2) At 10 p. m. right wing of the army fell back to a +position 5 miles below Marietta. + +3. Federal army lined up in our front. + +4. Some indication of a general engagement. Yankees seem disposed to +celebrate the day with their artillery. Co. A with five other companies +from the regiment on picket. Heard some excellent music by the Federal +bands. + +5. Army retired to a position near the Chattahoochee. + +6. Entrenched and moved to the left. + +7. Quiet. (8). Co. A with five others on picket. + +9. Retired and crossed river to rejoin brigade. + +10. Johnston's entire army crossed the Chattahoochee last night. + +11. Having been quite unwell for several days, through advice of Lieut. +Daniel and Dr. Cumming I went to Division Hospital. On the 15th was sent +by Medical Board to Atlanta. On the 17th went to hospital at Oxford, Ga. +I did not rejoin my command again until Aug. 18th. During my absence +Gen. Johnston had been superseded by Gen. Hood as commander of the Army +of Tennessee, the battles of Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta had been +fought, Gen. W. H. T. Walker, our division commander had been killed and +our brigade had been transferred to Pat Cleburne's division. In the +battle of Peach Tree Creek July 20th, our regiment was only partially +engaged and suffered but little loss. Eugene Verdery and Henry Booth of +the Oglethorpes were wounded. The former had volunteered for service on +the skirmish line that day and while driving in the enemy's picket line +received a wound in the head, which caused him to spin around like a +top. + +In the battle of Atlanta, July 22, the regiment was in the thick of the +fight and lost more heavily. Of the Oglethorpes, S. M. Guy was killed. +Ob. Rooks was mortally wounded, M. H. Crowder lost a leg, R. W. Lassiter +an arm, Jim McLaughlin the bridge of his nose, while George Leonhardt, +John Bynum, Clay Foster, Hugh Ogilby, John Quinn and J. O. Wiley were +otherwise wounded. After my return to the company, near East Point, on +the 18th the regiment was sent to the picket line on the 19th and when +relieved on the morning of the 20th, was placed on the reserve line, +where we remained until the 30th. At 2 a. m. that day we were aroused +and ordered to "fall in," but did not move until daylight, when we +shifted position 3 or 4 miles to the left. At 11 p. m. we were again on +the march and after a fatiguing night tramp reached Jonesboro about +daylight on the 31st. + + +BATTLE OF JONESBORO. + +After investing and bombarding Atlanta for a month, Sherman had begun +his flanking tactics again by sending five of his corps to seize the M. +& W. Road at Jonesboro, and Hardee, with his own and Lee's corps, had +been sent down to checkmate the movement. After resting a few hours we +were formed in line of battle across an old field with only Lowry's +brigade on our left. For the only time in my experience as a soldier, +the plan of battle was read to our command. Lee's corps and two +divisions of Hardee's were to attack the enemy in front while Cleburne's +division, to which we belonged, were to advance, then wheel to the right +and attack in flank. Lying for several hours under a hot August sun +awaiting orders to advance, I remember that, being uncertain as to my +fate in the coming fight, and unwilling to allow the letters in my +possession to fall into the enemy's hands, I tore them up, leaving only +one for the identification of my body in case of my death. At 2 p. m. we +were ordered forward. Crossing the open field and advancing through a +piece of woodland, a battery of artillery opened on us but their shot +flew high. Sol Foreman of the Oglethorpes, was struck by a piece of +shell, but there was no other casualty in the company. After advancing +nearly a mile we struck a boggy swamp and on its farthest edge Flint +river. Will Daniel plunged in and turning to me said, "Come on +sergeant." He had gone but a little way when the water reached his arm +pits and sword in hand he swam across. Knowing that my cartridges would +be useless if I followed suit, I ran up the stream and found dry passage +on a log that lay across it. Reaching the crest of the hill beyond, we +halted to reform the line. The horse ridden by Col. Olmstead, our +brigade commander, had mired in the swamp, our regiment was without a +field officer and Will Daniel offered to take command of the brigade in +the final charge, which we all felt to be ahead of us. The hill on which +we stood had been occupied by Federal cavalry and artillery, who had +retired as we approached. The roar of battle giving evidence of a fierce +engagement on our right, came to us over the hills and valleys; Capt. +Dickson of Cleburne's staff, with his horse all afoam, his coat and vest +discarded and the perspiration trickling from his face, was riding from +point to point in the line giving his final orders and the sultry summer +air smelled viciously of powder and lead. At this juncture a courier +from Cleburne dashed up with orders for us to retire. We had gone some +distance beyond the point intended and had become entirely detached from +the line on our right. The attack in the enemy's front had failed to +dislodge them and our two brigades could hardly have accomplished much +against five corps of the enemy. By dusk we had resumed our original +position and our regiment was placed on the picket line. On Sept. 1, +Lee's corps returned to Atlanta and Hardee was left with his two +divisions to face an enemy whose strength was five times his own. +Relieved from picket by a detail of Cheatham's division, we were placed +in the trenches vacated by Lee's corps. At 3 p. m. the enemy massed +heavily in front of Lewis' Ky., and Govans' Ark. brigades and assaulted +in three lines of battle, but were repulsed. They then formed in column +of companies, making ten lines of battle, and renewed the attack. Our +breastworks at this point were inferior and were manned only by a line +in single rank. + +With such odds the issue could not long remain in doubt. Govans' line +was broken and a part of his brigade was captured. No assault was made +on the line held by us, though we were subjected to a heavy fire from +their skirmish line. At 10 p. m., Hardee evacuated his position and at +daylight on the 2nd, occupied another, near Lovejoy Station. Sherman +secured a foothold on the M. & W. Road and Hood, compelled to give up +Atlanta, formed a junction with Hardee on the 3rd. + +The enemy had again taken position in our front and skirmishing was kept +up until the 8th, when they were recalled by Sherman and the Dalton and +Atlanta campaign was ended. + + +FURTHER MEMORIES OF THE CAMPAIGN. + +The following incidents oscillating as they do "from grave to gay," and +marked perhaps as much by comedy as by tragedy, will probably be of more +interest to the reader of these records than the details just ended: + + +"TWO AND A DOG." + +At the date of our transfer from the coast to Johnston's army, our +uniforms were in fairly good condition and bore in almost every case +the insignia of rank held by the wearer. The writer's jacket had on its +sleeves the regulation chevrons of an orderly sergeant, three bars or +stripes with lozenge or diamond above them. The troops who had followed +the fortunes of the Western army from Shiloh to Chickamauga were not so +well clad and had, to a large extent discarded their official insignia. +For this reason they were disposed to guy us as bandbox soldiers. +Passing some of these veterans one day on the march one of them noticed +my chevrons and sang out to his comrades: "Look there, boys. I've often +hearn of "two and a dog" but I'll be blamed if there ain't "three and a +dog." I reckon that's the way they play kyards on the coast." The laugh +that followed convinced me that my lack of familiarity with the +mysteries of the card table was not shared by those who heard the jest. + + +STRIPES ON THE WRONG SIDE. + +While we suffered from deficiencies on other lines in the summer of '64, +there was certainly no lack of rainy weather during that campaign. The +roads over which we tramped were composed largely of a red, adhesive +clay. The writer's physical conformation gave him some right to be +classed with the knock-kneed species of the genus homo, and in marching +over the wet clay hills, the red pigment began at his ankles and by +successive contact, traveled gradually up the inside seams of his grey +trousers until those seams and an inch-wide space on either side were +covered for almost their entire length. Passing one day a division +resting by the roadside, one of them noticed the peculiar condition of +my bifurcated garment, and sang out to me: "Hello, my friend; you've got +the stripe on the wrong side of your pants." I could not deny the soft +impeachment and enjoyed the laugh raised at my expense as much as did my +comrades. + + +A CLOSE SHAVE. + +The battle of Resaca began May 14, '64. Walker's division, to which we +belonged, was held in reserve during the morning and at 12 p. m., as the +fighting grew fiercer, we were ordered up to reinforce Stewart's +division in our front. A pontoon bridge had been laid across the +Oostenaula river and a courier stationed on its bank to hurry the men +across, as the railroad embankment on the other side would protect them +from the fire of a Federal battery, which had secured the exact range of +the road over which we were passing. As we approached the bridge Capt. +Martin, commanding the company next in our front, halted the column a +moment to hear what the courier was saying. As the march was resumed, a +solid shot from the battery struck directly in a file of fours in +Martin's company killing two and wounding a third, not more than ten +feet from where I stood. The time occupied in the halt would have about +sufficed to have covered the intervening distance, and certainly saved +the lives of some of the Oglethorpes and possibly my own. Crossing the +river, Gen. W. H. T. Walker passed us going to the front and as he rode +by, another shot from the battery struck immediately behind him, barely +missing his horse. Glancing around at the dust it had raised and turning +to us with a smile on his face, he said, "Go it boots," and galloped on +to the head of the division. On this, as well as on every other occasion +when under fire, he seemed not only absolutely indifferent to danger, +but really to enjoy its presence. Gen. Cabell, in recalling his +association with Gen. Walker in the '60's, said that battle always +brought to his eyes an unusual glitter and that he thought him the +bravest man he had ever known. + +A hero in three wars, severely wounded at Okeechobee, Fla., and at +Molino Del Rey and Chapultpec, Mex., he fell at last gallantly leading +his division at the battle of Atlanta, July 22, '64, and I am sure no +battle soil on God's green earth in all the ages was ever stained by +braver or by nobler blood than William Henry Walker's. + + +A TWILIGHT PRAYER MEETING. + +On May 19, '64, Sherman and Johnston were fronting each other near +Kingston, Ga. In the skirmishing that day the Oglethorpes had suffered +some casualties, among them one that saddened all the company. Hugh +Legare Hill, son of Hon. Joshua Hill, a beardless boy, had been shot +through the head and instantly killed. He had joined us some months +before at Thunderbolt and becoming restive under the inaction of coast +service, had applied for a transfer to Johnston's army. Chafing under +the delay brought on by military red tape in such matters, and anxious +to secure a place on the firing line he had urged the officers to press +the matter as he wanted to reach his new command in time for the opening +of the spring campaign. Before the papers were returned our regiment was +ordered to Dalton and the transfer was abandoned. + +Poor Legare! The spring campaign had not yet drifted into summer before +his bright young life, that knew no other season, but its spring, had +found its sad and sudden ending on the firing line, a place for which he +longed so ardently and met so bravely. + +In the evening of that day we occupied a line near Cass Station, a line +chosen by Johnston for a general and decisive engagement with Sherman's +army. The Fabian policy, that had marked the campaign from its opening, +was to be ended. The gage of battle was thrown down and Atlanta's fate +was to be settled before another sunset. Every arrangement for the +coming conflict was made and the men ready and anxious for the fray were +resting on their arms. At the twilight hour two members of the +Oglethorpes left their places in the ranks and retired to a quiet spot +in the forest not far away to talk with God. No church spire raised its +lofty summit heavenward. Under the open sky in one of "God's first +temples," as dusk was deepening into night, they kneeled together and +each in turn, in tones of earnest supplication, asked for God's +protecting care upon themselves and on their comrades in the coming +battle and for His blessing on the flag for which they fought and +prayed. And when their prayers were ended, they pledged each other that +if it was the fate of either one to fall, the other would act a +brother's part and give such aid and comfort as he could. + +Returning to their places in the line, they wrapped their worn, grey +blankets around them and lay down under the starlight to pass in calm +and quiet sleep, the night before the battle. I have attended many +larger prayer meetings since that day; I have heard many petitions to a +Throne of Grace, clothed in more cultured phrase, and yet but few that +seemed more earnest or filled with simpler trust in God. + +Under the urgent protest of Hood and Polk, Joe Johnston's plans were +changed and the promised battle beside the Etowah was never fought. I +know not what the issue would have been, personal or national. I know +that if the hundred and fifty thousand men marshalled upon that field on +that May day had met in deadly strife, the shadows would have fallen on +many a Northern and many a Southern home. And yet somehow I can but feel +that if that evening's bloody promise had been fulfilled and in the +gathering twilight at its close our company roll was called to mark the +living and the dead, my friend and comrade, Steed, and I, whose humble +prayers had broken the silence of the evening air to reach no other +ears but ours and God's, would in His kindly providence have answered, +"Here." + + +TOM HOWARD'S SQUIRREL BEAD. + +On May 28, '64, we were on skirmish line near Dallas, Ga. The remainder +of the brigade had left the trenches in our rear to reinforce some other +point in the line and the pickets were holding the fort alone. A Federal +sharpshooter had secured a concealed position at short range and was +picking off the men in a way highly satisfactory to himself, perhaps, +but decidedly unpleasant to us. We had been on duty all the night before +and worn out from loss of sleep. I sat down with my back to a tree as a +protection from careless bullets and fell asleep. Will Daniel, in a +similar position and for like reasons, was dozing at the next tree +twenty feet away. A courier came down the line and waking me asked for +the officer in command. I pointed to Will and as the courier laid his +hand on Will's shoulder to wake him, a ball crashed through his knee, +causing him to scream with pain. A little while before Louis Picquet had +received the wound that cost him his leg, and a little later McCurdy of +our company, fell with a ball through his head. + +Tom Howard had been watching the progress of events and they seemed to +him entirely too one-sided. Gripping his rifle more tightly and with the +peculiar flash that came to his eyes when excited, he said, "Boys if I +can get a squirrel bead on that fellow I can stop his racket." Slipping +from tree to tree until he located the picket by the smoke of his gun, +he drew his squirrel bead and fired. This time the yell of pain came +from the other side, and Tom, with his eyes dancing and his face all +aglow, turned to us and said, "Boys, I got him. I heard him holler." +Tom's bead had stopped the racket. + + +"WHEN THIS CRUEL WAR IS OVER." + +Tom was one of the "characters" in the company. Brave and generous, full +of life and humor and always ready for duty, he would sometimes grow a +little homesick. One day, Ab Mitchell, sitting on the edge of the +trenches, began to sing, "When this cruel war is over." So far as I +know, Ab had never taken first prize at a singing school, but as Tom +listened, the plaintive melody of the air and the undertone of sadness +in the verses carried him back to his old home in Oglethorpe. Every +feature of the old plantation life rose vividly before him. He heard the +"watch dog's honest bark bay deep-mouthed welcome" as he drew near home. +He slaked his thirst from the "old oaken bucket that hung in the well." +He heard the lowing cows and saw the playful gambol of his blooded stock +cantering across the barn yard. He saw the blooming cotton fields and +heard the rustling of the waving corn. But last and best of all, he felt +the pressure of tiny arms about his neck, the touch of loving lips upon +his own and then his dream was over. With tears in the heart if not in +his eye, he thought of the life that lay before him; of the weary +months or years that would come and go before these old familiar scenes +would gladden his eyes again, and he could stand it no longer. Rising +suddenly he seized his old rifle and turning to the singer, he said, "Ab +Mitchell, if you sing another line of that song, I'll blow your blamed +head off." And the concert ended without an encore. + + +"JIM, TOUCH OFF NO. 1." + +During this campaign, Major Bledsoe of Missouri, commanded a battalion +of artillery in Cleburne's division. A veteran of two wars, combining in +his personality both the Southern and Western types, tall and gaunt, +with no trace of Beau Brummellism in his physical or mental make-up, he +was as stubborn a fighter as the struggle produced on either side, and +yet away from the battlefield he was as gentle and as genial as a woman. +So accurate were his gunners and so effective their fire, that it was +said that no Federal battery had ever planted itself in range of his +guns, when they were once unlimbered. + +As he sat by his battery one day in May, '64, reading a newspaper, a +stranger approached him and said, "Major, where are the Yankees?" +Raising his eyes from the paper a moment he turned to one of his gunners +and said: "Jim, touch off No. 1," and resumed his reading. "Jim" pulled +the lanyard, there was a puff of smoke, the earth trembled from the +concussion and the six-pound messenger sped on its mission of death. As +it reached its mark, which had been hidden by the undergrowth in front, +the "blue coats" were seen scattering in every direction. The stranger +was answered. + +As I may have no further occasion to refer to Major Bledsoe in these +records, an incident or two occurring some months later may not be amiss +in this connection. On October 29, '64, near Courtland, Ala., on our +trip to Nashville, a grey fox crossed our line of march, passing between +two of the regiments. The Major was riding by and spurring his horse to +full speed, he gave chase, trying at every step to disengage his pistol +from the holster for a shot at the animal. I think he failed to secure +the "brush." The Reynard tribe must have been numerous in that section, +for on reaching our camping place that evening, we found Pat Cleburne +and his entire staff chasing another fox through an old field. + +After the retreat from Nashville our division was ordered to North +Carolina and in the transfer the trip from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., +was made by steamer. The boat was old and slow, and the voyage +monotonous. To enliven it, the boys, for lack of better game, would try +their marksmanship on every buzzard that in silent dignity sat perched +on the tall dead pines that lined the river bank. Major Bledsoe was with +us, and constituting himself a "lookout" for the game, he entered into +the sport with all the zest and ardor of a boy. He was probably no blood +kin to "Jim Bludsoe" of Prairie Belle fame, but under similar +conditions I believe that like "Jim" he would, regardless of his own +fate, have + + "Held her nozzle to the bank, + Till the last galoot was ashore." + + +ANOTHER STAMPEDE. + +Mention has been made of a panic that occurred on a night march near +Green Brier river, Va., in '61. A similar stampede occurred on the night +of May 25, '64, near Powder Springs, Ga. We were in reserve and were +shifting position to the right. The night was dark and none of us knew +the object of the movement or our destination. Tramping along quietly +under a moonless sky over a country road darkly shaded by a heavy forest +growth, a sudden rumbling was heard, increasing in volume as it +approached and then the column in front dimly seen in the starlight, +swayed to the right and there was a unanimous movement to get out of the +way and to get quickly. One man, thoroughly demoralized, broke through +the woods at full speed in the darkness, ran into a tree, that stood in +his pathway, and dislocated his knee cap. Most of the men thought the +enemy's cavalry were charging down the road upon them and they took to +the woods and did not stand upon the order of their going. The rumbling +was caused by the hurried tramp of feet as the men left the road. It was +simply a causeless stampede and no one knew how it began. It was said +that a deer ran across the road in front of the column, but I can not +vouch for the correctness of this explanation. + +I do not know how it may have been with others, but to the writer the +expectation of meeting an unseen enemy in the dark, with no means of +ascertaining his numbers or location, was never a pleasant sensation. It +would have modified the feeling, perhaps, if I had borne in mind always +the advice of a Confederate general to his men to "remember that the +other side is as badly scared as you are." + + +A SUMMER DAY ON THE FIRING LINE. + +It was a day in June, but neither a perfect nor a rare June day. For two +weeks and more it had rained almost continuously. Every day or two Jabe +Poyner, the weather prophet of the company, had said, "Well boys, this +is the clearing up shower." And still it rained and rained and rained +until Poyner's reputation on this line had gone where the woodbine +twineth. In the early morning of the 18th there was another of Jabe's +clearing up showers and at its close the boys were lying on the wet +ground, a hundred yards in rear of the breastworks, awaiting orders. +They had amused themselves for a time by shooting pebbles at each other, +when Bill Byrd's foot was struck and he said, "Boys, don't shoot so +hard--that one hurt." Looking down at his foot, he found that another +partner had entered the game as it had been hit by a minnie ball from +the skirmish line. + +The firing had begun at daylight and was growing heavier. At 8 a. m. six +companies of the regiment were ordered to the front to reinforce our +skirmish line, which was being pressed back. "Over the breastworks, +Oglethorpes," sang out Lieut. Daniel, and we went over with a yell. +Advancing and deploying under fire, we reached a position within 250 +yards of the Federal line and having no rifle pits, we availed ourselves +of such protection as the larger forest trees afforded. Selecting a post +oak, I had been there only a little while when the man on my right, +belonging to another company, was shot down. The woods were very thick +in my front and not relishing the idea of being killed with such limited +opportunity of returning the favor, I shifted my position to the leeward +side of a red oak, twenty or thirty feet to the left where the woods +were more open and a Federal rifle pit in front was only partially +hidden from my view. The diameter of the tree about covered my own and +there for twelve hours, in a drizzling rain, I cultivated the +acquaintance of that oak more earnestly perhaps than I had ever fostered +a personal friendship. For that day at least it was "my own familiar +friend in whom I trusted," and if on bidding it adieu, I had met the +owner, my prayer to him would have been, + + Woodman spare that tree, + Mar not its noble shape, + Today it sheltered me + From "minnie" and from "grape." + +All day long leaden messengers were knocking at the door of my +improvised breastwork in search of my long and lank anatomy. It was +barked and scarred and torn from the root to twenty feet above my head. +Twice the bark was knocked into my eyes and once a ball striking at the +foot of the tree filled them with dirt. On one of these occasions I must +have flinched a little as George Harrison, who was cultivating friendly +relations with the next tree on my right, turned anxiously and asked if +I was shot. + +The Federal line as a rule stuck rather closely to their pits and not +feeling authorized to waste my ammunition I fired only when there was a +blue target in sight. Some of the boys, less careful of their cartridges +expended 80 or 90 rounds during the day. John Carroll, ten feet to my +left, kept firing when I could see no game, and I said to him, "John, +what are you shooting at?" "Well," he said, "they are down that way." +Before the day was ended some of them "down that way" had shot him +through the thigh, and the poor fellow died of the wound. + +In addition to the incessant infantry fire, which made small lead mines +of the friendly oaks, the Federal artillery, not wishing to be lacking +in social attentions, complimented us at short intervals with volleys of +grape. These came over us like the whir of a covey of overgrown +partridges, but fortunately flew high, causing more nervousness than +execution. + +Ninety thousand rounds of ammunition were fired on Hardee's line alone +that day and our friends on the other side expended probably an equal or +larger number. There was no intermission for lunch. Our rations were +nearly half a mile away and the Northern exposure of the route towards +them somehow dulled our appetites. There are several incidents that come +back very vividly today from that twelve hours' fright in the woods. + + +A SQUIRREL HUNT UNDER DIFFICULTIES. + +One of these incidents furnished an exhibition of coolness under fire +and indifference to danger that had no parallel in all my term of +service. About midday I heard several shots fired a short distance in my +rear. Fearing that some excited soldier might fire wildly and shoot me +in the back, I turned to investigate, and saw a member of the regiment +standing in an exposed position and coolly and deliberately firing, not +at the enemy, but at a squirrel he had discovered in the branches of the +tree above our heads. Grape shot were tearing the limbs from their +sockets, minies were making music in the air, or striking the oaks with +a dull, dull thud, but that soldier, was oblivious to everything save a +determination to have fried squirrel for supper. If I knew his name I +cannot now recall it, nor do I remember whether the squirrel was +included in the casualties of that day. + + +JIM THOMAS' DILEMMA. + +During the afternoon Jim and a Yankee picket had been taking alternate +shots at each other and it was the Yankee's time to shoot. Jim was +nestling up to the Southern side of his tree and thinking possibly of +all the meanness he had ever committed in order to feel as small as +possible, when a cannon ball crashed through the tree, cutting off its +top and sending it by force of gravity, in the direction of his head. He +was in a dilemma. If he remained where he was he was liable to be +crushed to death by the falling timber, and if he left his cover the +picket would probably kill him. Under ordinary circumstances Jim may not +have been averse to taking a "horn," but in this dilemma he was +undecided which horn to take, whether to bear the ills he had or fly to +others, that unfortunately he knew too well. + +"All things come to him who waits," but in this case there was something +coming that Jim didn't care to wait for. Doing perhaps the rapidest +thinking of his life he decided if he had to shuffle off this mortal +coil, he would do so in a soldierly way, and leaving the protection of +his tree he gave his antagonist a fair shot. Fortunately the aim was bad +and Jim lived to laugh over his deliverance from a sea of troubles. + + +A POOR GUN OR A POOR GUNNER. + +Obliquely to the right of my position in the line, and about 250 yards +distant as I estimated it, there was a shallow ravine or valley and 20 +or 30 feet beyond, on its further slope, a Yankee rifle pit. For reasons +which readily occurred to the writer at the time and which will +probably suggest themselves to the reader, I did not take the trouble to +verify my estimate of the distance by stepping it. About the center of +this depression in the land was a very large tree--a pine, as I +recollect it. On the farther side of this tree and hidden by it entirely +from my view for the larger part of the day was a six-foot Yankee +soldier, an officer probably, for he had no gun in his hand. During the +afternoon, to protect himself from the fire of other skirmishers on my +right, he had "inched" around the tree until his body from his knee +upward was in plain and unobstructed view of my position. It was +drizzling rain and his shoulders were protected by a blue blanket thrown +across them. It was the fairest, prettiest shot I had enjoyed during the +day and fearing that he would change his position, I aimed at his breast +rather hurriedly and fired. The shot failed even to scare him for he +didn't move an inch. Reloading as rapidly as I could, I steadied the gun +against the red oak and with as deliberate aim as I had ever taken at a +squirrel in my boyhood I fired again. And still he moved not. Reloading +again I took even longer aim and when the smoke cleared from the muzzle +of the gun he had disappeared. I do not think that he was either killed +or disabled as in such event I would have seen him carried to the rear. +I am glad to believe that my third shot simply convinced him that a +change of base was desirable and that he acted upon that conviction +while the smoke obstructed my vision. + +And now in at least partial extenuation of what seemed very poor +marksmanship it may not be amiss to say that the weapon used was an +Austrian rifle and was considered a very inferior gun. With an Enfield +or Springfield rifle I think I could have made a better record, provided +always that my nerves had not been rendered unsteady by the necessity +for dodging minies for six or eight hours. George Harrison, who took +care of the tree nearest me on the right has always insisted that I did +redeem my reputation on that day, but with so many guns in possible +range of the same point it was impossible for him to have known +definitely whose shot was effective. Such a result, if positively +settled, would be to me now only an unpleasant memory and while in the +discharge of my duty as a Confederate soldier and in justice to the +cause, for which I fought, I lost no opportunity and spared no effort to +lessen the number of effectives on the other side, it has been a +gratification to me to have no positive knowledge that my efforts were +ever successful. + + +SAVED FROM DEATH BY A BIBLE. + +Evan H. Lawrence, of Morgan county, and a member of the Oglethorpes, +occupied that day a position about 20 feet to my left. He had in his +left breast pocket and covering his heart, a Bible. During the day a +minie ball struck the book and passing partly through, stopped at the +7th verse of the 52d chapter of Isiah. But for the protection furnished +by the book it would probably have produced a fatal wound. He told me +afterwards that the subject matter of that special chapter had been in +his thoughts all day. He survived the war, entered the ministry of the +Baptist church and preached his first sermon from the text named above: +"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good +tidings, that publisheth peace," etc. I am satisfied that the incident +and the peculiar significance of the text had a controlling influence in +the selection of his life work after the war. He fought a good fight, +both as a soldier and a Christian, and I feel assured, has received his +certificate of promotion in the ranks of the army above. + +At 8 p. m. we were relieved and returned to the trenches. Twelve hours' +continuous fighting had rendered us hungry for rest as well as food, but +our rations of both were destined to be short. The beef issued to us had +been slaughtered so long and was so badly tainted that even a soldier's +appetite had to reject it. Only the tallow or fat could be used and this +was stuck on the end of a ramrod, placed in the flame until the outer +surface was scorched and was then eaten with a relish that the rarest +dainties of a royal table would not bring to me now. After a hasty lunch +we were again on the tramp. The roads were very muddy, the march was +obstructed by wagons in front and we made only 2 1-2 miles in four +hours. There were frequent halts and at one of them Will Daniel and the +writer, standing side by side in the mud, both fell asleep. After a time +the company moved on, but neither of us awoke until jostled by other +troops in passing us. This incident recalls the fact that on a forced +march in Tennessee afterwards, I slept walking. The nap must have been a +short one, but that I lost consciousness was proven by the fact that I +dreamed of a young lady three hundred miles away. + +A little after midnight we were halted on the crest of a ridge and +thoroughly worn out we lay down to rest, invoking in our hearts if not +upon our lips, blessings on the man that invented sleep. + + +INCIDENTS ON THE KENNESAW LINE. + +On the next day, 19th, we were on reserve picket all day in the rain, +but fortunately with no fighting to do. Relieved at midnight, we retired +behind the trenches, as the writer hoped, for much-needed rest and +sleep. My only blanket had been thoroughly soaked by the rain and +knowing Gen. Johnston's predilection for changing base at night, I was +in doubt whether to take the chance of securing such sleep as I could +get in a wet blanket, or to build a fire, dry the blanket and fall into +the arms of Morpheus like a gentleman. I chose the latter course, spent +an hour in the drying process and then lay down, hopeful of a good +night's rest. I had just fitted my angular frame to the inequalities of +the ground, when the ominous "Fall in," Fall in.. fell like another wet +blanket on my heart and hopes. Out into the mud and darkness we +tramped, not knowing whither we went and caring, perhaps as little. We +were finally halted near the base of Kennesaw Mountain and on the line +we were to occupy for the next two weeks. Before dismissing the company +Will Daniel said, "An attack is expected on this line at daylight +tomorrow, and I have orders to fortify it. I am tired and I am going to +sleep. You can entrench or not, as you choose, but I want you to +distinctly understand that you have got to hold this line in the +morning, breastworks or no breastworks." + +Only one man remained awake to fortify and he dug his trench in the +wrong direction. Fortunately the expected attack did not materialize +next day and we found ample opportunity to entrench before it came on +the 27th. + + +SLEEPING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. + +The ground through which our trenches ran sloped upwards in our rear and +as we were in range of the Federal skirmish line, the balls that missed +the breastworks would strike the soil 20 or 30 feet back of them. On the +night of June 25 I was sleeping under a shelter made of bark stripped +from chestnut trees, with Will Dabney as bedfellow. About midnight I was +awakened by his groaning and found that he had been wounded while +asleep, the ball entering his arm above the elbow and stopping at the +bone without breaking it. W. J. Steed was accustomed to use his shoes +and socks as a pillow for his head, a habit growing possibly out of his +daily effort as commissary to make both ends meet. He was a little +surprised one morning to find that a minie ball had passed through his +improvised pillow without disturbing his sleep. Geo. McLaughlin found +one morning a minie imbedded in the heel of the shoe he had laid aside +for the night. These cases might indicate that our Northern friends were +rather partial to that kind of in-shoe-rance, but I am satisfied that +George and "Phunie" would have preferred a different policy. + +The fire from the skirmish line was so heavy one morning and the balls +were flying around so carelessly that the company was ordered into the +trenches. Frank Stone and I had not finished our breakfast and as Will +Daniel had a personal interest in the meal, we secured his consent to +continue our culinary operations. I was sitting by the fire cutting up a +piece of beef for hash, when one of those careless minies struck my +right arm near the wrist, ventilating the sleeve of my jacket and +partially disabling my arm for ten days. As a souvenir of that temporary +interruption to the hash business I have that minie filed away among +other war curios. + + +THE VICTIM OF MISPLACED CONFIDENCE. + +Our stay at Kennesaw was marked by another squirrel incident differing +somewhat from that of June 18, already referred to. A short distance in +the rear of our position a Confederate battery had been planted and +between this and the enemy's batteries there were frequent artillery +duels. So frequent were these engagements and so accustomed did we +become to the noise of the guns that if asleep it failed to awake us, +although our battery was only seventy-five yards away. On one of these +occasions we were ordered into the trenches for protection from the +shells. Sitting in the ditch with our faces turned rearward, some one in +the ranks spied a squirrel in the branches of a tree standing near our +battery. He was apparently crazed by the noise of the guns and the +shriek of the shells flying around him. One of the Oglethorpes sang out +to him, "Come down in the trenches--you'll be killed up there." I don't +think the squirrel heard him, but the words had barely left his lips, +when the little animal ran down the tree, struck a bee line for the +trenches and leaped in among the men. As he made his way down the line, +some one stamped on him and put an end to his race for life. I regretted +his fate, not only on account of his grey uniform, but for the reason +that if he was really seeking protection he had found himself the victim +of misplaced confidence. + + +PEDICULUS CORPORIS. + +On the evening of June 26, Will Daniel said to me, "Furnish 47 men for +picket duty tonight. Lieutenants Blanchard and McLaughlin will go with +them. As this is a detail, you will remain with the remnant of the +company in the trenches." As Gen. Sherman had not favored us with his +confidence, neither of us knew how much, exemption from that service +meant for both of us on the morrow. In detailing non-commissioned +officers for this detachment, Corp. L. A. R. Reab asked to be excused +upon the ground that he had received that day an outfit of outer and +under clothing--that by changing the old garments for the new after a +thorough ablution he had succeeded in ridding himself of a camp +affliction technically known as "pediculus corporis," but usually +characterized by a less euphonious title--that picket service in the +pits would certainly bring on a renewal of the attack, from which he +desired most earnestly to have at least a few days immunity. While he +had my sympathy, I was unable to consider his excuse a valid one, and +referred him to his commanding officer, who also declined to relieve +him. It was possibly fortunate that he failed as he was captured next +day and was kept a prisoner until the close of the war, securing in this +way exemption from further risk in battle and perhaps a longer lease of +life. + +In this connection it may not be amiss to say that the Oglethorpes were, +perhaps, as cleanly as any company in the service and yet during the +last year of the war I do not think a single member was free of this +affliction for a single day. It was simply a physical impossibility to +get rid of it. Discussing this matter with my friend, W. J. Steed some +time since, I made the statement that during our trip to Nashville in +the winter of '64, when we had no opportunity to change our +underclothing for a month or more, it was our custom before retiring at +night, to take our flannel or hickory shirts, close the neck and wrist, +suspend them over a blazing fire and hold them there until the air was +filled with the odor of frying meat. Steed's reply was, "I think a good +deal of you, old fellow, but I advise you never to make that statement +to any one who has not unlimited confidence in your veracity." And yet I +make it here with as full conviction of its absolute truthfulness as any +statement I have ever made in any presence. + +And now, bidding the "pediculus corporis" adieu with a great deal of +pleasure, I ask the reader's attention to another theme. + + +BATTLE OF KENNESAW + +The 47 men detailed for picket on the evening of the 26th, went to their +posts with seven other companies from the regiment, with no premonition +of what was in store for them on the coming day. There was the usual +desultory firing during the night, but the sunrise salute on the 27th +was not confined to a single gun. Every battery fronting Hardee's corps +and French's division, joined in the chorus. The cannonade was heavy and +continuous until 8 a. m., when the Federal bugles sounded the advance. +As the assaulting column approached our skirmish line, the pickets +covering the divisions of Cheatham, Cleburne and French retired to the +trenches, where the enemy met with a bloody and disastrous repulse. In +Walker's front their approach was hidden from view by a dense forest +growth, except on the extreme right adjoining French, where the pits +running across an open field, were held by Co. C, of our regiment. This +company had retired with French's pickets, leaving a vacancy in the +line. The Oglethorpes were in reserve, and Maj. Allen, misled by Capt. +Buckner as to the situation and ignorant of the fact that the attacking +column had already reached our skirmish line, ordered the company into +fill the gap. Gallantly led by Lieutenants Blanchard and McLaughlin, +they advanced at a double quick step and on reaching the open field were +met by a murderous fire both from the front and flank, for French's +deserted pits were already occupied by the enemy. The woods to the left +and front were swarming with blue coats. On a portion of the line held +by Co. K, they had reached the pit and a hand to hand conflict ensued. +Men fought with clubbed muskets. A short-legged Irishman of that +company, with the unusual name of John Smith, had his gun seized by a +stalwart Yankee and there was a struggle for its possession. The little +son of Erin was game, but he was overmatched in strength and shoving his +opponent backward as the gun was wrenched from his hands, he said, +"To ---- with you and the gun too." Lieut. George A. Bailie, of Co. B, +had his ear grazed by a minie and his antagonist, twenty feet away, +reloaded to fire again; having no weapon but his sword, Lieut. B. +decided to emulate David in his contest with Goliath, and picking up a +stone he threw it, striking his foe squarely between the eyes and +placing him hors de combat for a time at least. Further up the line and +near the vacant pits, another member of the regiment, whose name is not +recalled, stood loading and firing as rapidly as his teeth could tear +the cartridges and his hands could ram them home. His face was cold and +pallid and bloodless, but not from fear. Blackened with powder stain, +through which the perspiration trickled in streams, his eyes flashed +defiance with every flash from his gun, while disdaining the protection +of the pits he stood there a perfect demon of war, with no thought save +to kill. + +And what of the Oglethorpes? They had picked up something too hot to +hold. Attacked both in front and flank by largely superior numbers they +were in a veritable hornet's nest. They fought bravely to hold their +position, but the odds were too great and George McLaughlin, seeing that +it was wholesale death or capture, sang out, "Save yourselves, boys." +The place was too hot to hold and almost to let go. For two or three +hundred yards to the rear was an open field sloping upwards. To retire +through this bullet swept as it was at short range, was simply to court +death. Obliquely to the rear was a piece of woodland from which some +protection could be gained. Most of the men made a break for this. Some +of them ran squarely into the arms of the enemy who had possession of +the woods, and were captured. Some failed to leave the pits in time and +were taken prisoners there. Some ran the gauntlet safely, while some +brought to the rear in frame or limb a perpetual souvenir of that warm +day. With the first volley as they entered the open field, Lieut. +Blanchard was wounded and W. J. Steed fell by his side with a ball +through his lungs. A moment later A. M. Hilzheim, who had joined us only +a day before, had received a fatal wound, and Wyatt Chamblin had fallen +with a shattered leg. When the order to retire was given, W. J. Steed, +John Weigle and Charlie Bayliss attempted to make their way to the rear +through the open field. Steed had gone but a little way when a ball +crashed through his hand. As he slung it in pain, another shattered his +elbow and he fell. As he lay there suffering agony from three wounds a +fourth ball broke the same arm near the shoulder. A little way off +Charlie Bayliss lay dead and John Weigle had fallen with a broken thigh. +The Federal line was re-formed in rear of the pits and Steed and Weigle +were ordered to come in and surrender. They replied that they were +unable to go in, but that if litter bearers were sent out they could be +carried in. Just then a shell from one of French's batteries burst over +the Federal line and they took to the woods without the ceremony of a +formal dismissal. Steed and Weigle took advantage of a temporary lull in +the firing and renewed their efforts to escape. Steed was so weakened by +loss of blood from his four wounds that he could only rise, stagger a +little way and fall, then rest for a time and renew the effort, while +Weigle was forced to crawl and drag his wounded limb. In the effort he +was shot in the other leg, but was finally reached by the litter bearers +and taken to the rear, one of them being fatally wounded as they bore +him off. After repeated efforts, occupying an hour or more, Steed +reached the haven and swooned away. In this condition he was found and +rescued. He still lives, but an armless sleeve furnishes constant +reminder of the terrible experience of that June day. Weigle, poor +fellow, a model soldier and a brave, true man, died from his wounds. + +And now, though it is due to the truth of history, I regret to record +the fact, that while these comrades of mine, who had been shot down on +the soil of their own State for defending their homes and firesides, +were making in bitter agony their heroic struggle for life, Federal +soldiers, schooled in Sherman's creed that "War is hell" and that "the +humanities of life have no place" amid its horrors, concealed behind +trees and under the shelter of rifle pits, were trying to murder these +men as they lay maimed and mangled and bleeding and helpless upon the +ground. It is not a pleasant picture, and I am glad to be able to shift +the reader's attention to another that blooms out in striking and +refreshing contrast to this product of Northern civilization. At the +same hour and less than a mile away, the attack of Palmer's corps on +Cleburne's and Cheatham's divisions met with a bloody repulse and as +the Union line retired, exploding shells or paper wrapping from the +rifle cartridges, fired the woods where the Federal dead and wounded +lay. "Cease firing," rang out from brave Pat Cleburne's lips, and the +rugged heroes of Granbury, Govan and Lowry, dropped their arms and +leaping the breastworks they hurried out under the summer sun and the +fiercer heat of the blazing woods to rescue and save their fallen and +helpless foes. Comment is unnecessary and if it were, as a reconstructed +citizen of a reconstructed union, I have no heart to make it. + +In addition to the casualties already named Ab. Mitchell of the +Oglethorpes, lost an arm, and W. W. Bussey, W. B. Morris, Bob Prather, +Billy Pardue, Ben Rowland and Randall Reeves were otherwise wounded. L. +A. R. Reab, Joe Derry, Willie Eve, Geo. Harrison, Bud Howard, W. +Chamblin, Jabe Marshall, Polk Thomas, John Coffin and Lott were +captured. George Pournelle's fate was never positively known. Those who +escaped thought he was captured and those who were captured thought he +escaped. He was the last to leave his pit, was probably killed there and +falling in it was thus concealed from the view of other members of the +company. He was my friend and messmate, brave and kind and true. Three +years' comradeship had drawn us very close together and the mystery of +his death has always saddened me. + +The pickets were rallied by Major Allen on a line nearer our trenches, +but the Federals made no further effort to advance. The brave stand made +by our regiment on the skirmish line checked the assaulting column and +by 11:30 the battle had ended. Sherman had lost 3,000 and Johnston only +630, one-eighth of it falling on the 63rd Ga. Gen. W. H. T. Walker +complimented the regiment on its gallantry, but suggested that it be +tempered with a little more discretion. + + +ROLL CALL AFTER BATTLE. + +Few scenes in a soldier's life are touched with sadder interest than the +first roll call after a battle. As Orderly sergeant of the Oglethorpes I +had to call its roll, perhaps a thousand times, and yet I do not now +remember one that touched my heart more deeply than that which closed +that summer day at Kennesaw. The voices of twenty-two of those who had +so promptly answered to the call of duty a few short hours before, were +hushed and silent when their names were called. Some with Federal +bayonets guarding them, were tramping to prison dens, perhaps to slow +and lingering death. Some with mangled form and limb were suffering more +than death, while some with white cold faces turned toward the stars, +were answering roll call on the other shore. Standing beside the +breastworks on that summer evening, under the shadow of grim and silent +Kennesaw, with twilight deepening into night, there were shadows on all +our hearts as well, shadows that stretched beyond us and fell on hearts +and hearthstones far away, shadows that rest there still and never will +be lifted. + + +UNDER TWO FLAGS. + +Some time in '63 there came to the regiment a young and beardless boy, +"the only son of his mother and she was a widow." Timid and shrinking, +he was assigned to a company in which he had neither friend nor +acquaintance, and he soon grew homesick and despondent. He had been my +brother's schoolboy friend and in pity for his loneliness I made an +effort to secure his transfer to the Oglethorpe's. His captain declined +to approve the papers and the effort failed. Frail and unfitted to +endure the hardships of a soldier's life, he nevertheless bore up +bravely under the constant toil and danger of the Dalton and Atlanta +campaign until the battle of Kennesaw was fought. His company was on the +skirmish line that day and suffered heavily. When the Federal line had +been repulsed and in the hush of the twilight air the roll was called, +he was reported "missing," a word that carried with it to many a lonely +home a world of agony in those war days. + +Two hours later a member of his company came to me and said, "Dick is +lying dead between the picket lines. If I can get two others, will you +go with us to find the body and bring it in?" Prowling around at night +between two hostile skirmish lines in constant expectation of being shot +by either side was not a pleasant duty, but I thought of his widowed +mother and, and told him I would go. He went away to secure other help, +but learned in some way that he had been mistaken; that the dead soldier +lying cold out under the starlight was not Dick, but another member of +the regiment. A few days later we abandoned the Kennesaw line and I +heard no more of my boy friend until the war had ended. Then I learned +through returning prisoners that he had been captured at Kennesaw; that +under the bitter cruelties of prison life he had grown sick and helpless +and was slowly dying; that in his weakness and under the inhuman policy +of Grant and Lincoln, hopeless of release by exchange, he was offered a +chance of renewed life if he would consent to serve against the Indians, +who were giving trouble in the far West. Lee's shadowy line was growing +thinner day by day. Hood's reckless raid on Nashville had ended in +disaster and the end had nearly come. With the shadow of the grave +resting on every prison wall and more, perhaps, from love of mother than +of life, he yielded. But the seeds of death were sown too deeply in his +boyish frame. The prison horrors, that merit, but find no place on +Lincoln's monument, nor Grant's mausoleum, had done their work. A few +short months and somewhere under the Western sky, far from home and +kindred, the prairie grass was weaving in the summer sunshine, its +creeping tendrils over his lonely grave. + +Poor, gentle-hearted Dick! Deaths were common, sadly common in those old +days but the memory of his fate has never been recalled in all these +years without a sense of sadness and of sorrow. My heart has never +judged him save in pity and in kindness always, for I am sure few mounds +of earth have lain above a purer or a gentler heart. + + +AN UN-DRESS PARADE. + +In active service, brass bands and "dress parades" fell largely into +"innocuous desuetude." When a band was seen going to the rear it was +considered prima facie evidence that there was a fight on hand, while an +order for dress parade dispelled any apprehension of an early +engagement. I recall one instance, however, of an undress parade on the +firing line and without a brass band accompaniment. + +In the early days of July, '64, the Northern and Southern banks of the +Chattahoochee formed for a time the skirmish lines of Johnston's and +Sherman's armies. One day some of our pickets established with their +opponents on the other side a self-appointed truce. No firing was to be +done during its existence, and proper notice was to be given of its +termination. The weather was warm and a squad of Yankee pickets relying +upon the honor of their Southern foes, decided to take a swim in the +river. Stripping themselves to the bathing suit furnished by nature, +they plunged in and were enjoying the bath immensely. The Confederate +officer of the day becoming apprised of the temporary cessation of +hostilities, sent a courier down with orders to stop the truce and +renew the firing at once. The bathers were in plain view and in easy +range of our rifle pits. Notice was given them of the orders and they +begged to be allowed time to dress and resume their positions in their +own pits. The courtesy was accorded, but their toilets were not made in +either slow or common time. There was a hasty run on the bank, a hurried +leap into the pits and then the crack of the rifles announced the end of +the truce and of the undress parade as well. + + +RECKLESS COURAGE. + +On the same line, on another day, two opposing pickets, who had been +taking alternate shots at each other, finally agreed on a challenge +given by one and accepted by the other, to leave the protection of their +pits and fight to a finish. The gurgling waters of the Chattahoochee lay +between them. Standing on either bank, in full view of each other and +without protection, they loaded and fired until one was killed. + +It was simply a life thrown recklessly away, without reason, and with no +possible good to the cause for which he fought. Some weeks later Bob +Swain, who had been transferred to our company from the 12th Ga. +Battalion and to whom reference has already been made in connection with +the raising of Fort Sumter's fallen flag, was on the skirmish line at +Lovejoy Station. The Yankee pickets were probably six hundred yards +away, but they kept up a continuous fire and their balls would +frequently strike the head logs of our rifle pits. So anxious was Bob to +avail himself of every opportunity to secure a shot and so utterly +reckless of danger, that he refused to enter the pit and remained in an +exposed position until he was shot through the head and killed. + +Picket firing in war, except when rendered necessary by an attempted +advance by one side or the other, is in my opinion, simply legalized +murder. The losses sustained in this way can never affect the final +result. "Only a picket or two now and then" does not count "in the news +of the battle," but "in some little cot on the mountain" the shadow of +lifelong grief falls just as heavily on the lonely wife or mother as if +the victim had hallowed by his life blood a victory that changed the +fate of a nation. + + +WATERMELON AS A PERSUADER. + +During the summer of '64, Aaron Rhodes of the Oglethorpes, fell sick and +was sent to the hospital at Greensboro, Ga. Dr. H. V. M. Miller, the +"Demosthenes of the mountains," and an ante-bellum professor in the +Medical College at Augusta, Ga., was the surgeon in charge. + +Aaron's father secured for him a leave of absence to visit his home and +at its expiration went to Greensboro to procure an extension, as he was +still unfit for duty. Dr. Miller told him that it was impossible to +grant the request, as strict orders had just been received to allow no +further leaves; that the instructions were imperative and gave him no +discretion whatever. Mr. Rhodes argued and pleaded, but the Doctor's +decision was positive and final. At the close of the interview, Mr. R. +gave the assurance that his son would be sent up at once, and then in +taking his leave said, "By the way, Doctor, I brought you those Richmond +county melons I promised you when I was here last and they are now at +the depot for you." "Ah; thank you," said the Doctor, "and by the way, +please say to Aaron, that after reconsidering the matter, he can remain +at home as long as he wishes, or until able to return to duty." And +Aaron's melancholy days were not "the saddest of the year." + + +SAVED FROM A NORTHERN PRISON BY A NOVEL. + +In July '64, the writer passed through his first and only experience +either as prisoner or an inmate of a hospital. Sherman was nearing +Atlanta and his pickets lined the northern bank of the Chattahoochee. I +had been sick for several days and Dr. Cumming, acting assistant +surgeon, insisted that I should go to the rear. With me there went from +the division hospital to Atlanta a boy soldier, who did not seem to be +over 14 years of age, and I do not think he was as tall as his gun. If +not the original of Dr. Ticknor's "Little Giffen of Tennessee," he was +certainly his counterpart for he was "utter Lazarus, heels to head." +Atlanta was only a distributing hospital. The sick were being shipped to +points on the Atlanta and West Point Road. Reports from that section +were anything but favorable. Sick and wounded were said to be "dying +like sheep." Having no special desire to die in that way or in any other +way, if possible to avoid it, I asked assignment to some hospital on the +Georgia Railroad. "All full," said the surgeon. "No room anywhere except +on Atlanta and West Point Road. Train leaves at 7 o'clock in the +morning. Report here at that hour." As I had fully determined not to go +on that road I reported at 8 o'clock instead of 7, and a few hours later +I was pleasantly quartered in the hospital at Oxford, Ga., where I had +spent two years of college life. Four years before, almost to a day, I +had left its classic halls little dreaming that I should return to its +familiar scenes in sickness and in weariness, a victim of grim visaged +war. For many months the college exercises had been suspended and the +chapel, recitation and literary society halls were being utilized as +hospital wards. At the time of my arrival the ladies and older citizens, +who had not been absorbed by the war, felt some apprehensions of a raid +into the village by Sherman's cavalry, which was only forty miles away. +Among these ladies, however, there was one to whom the expectation of +such an event brought no feeling of anxiety. Born and reared in the +North, she felt assured that no Union soldier's vandal hand would +molest any of her possessions. Asked by one of her neighbors what she +proposed to do in the event of their coming she replied, "They'll never +trouble me or mine. I am just going to sit down and see the salvation of +the Lord." How it looked when she saw it, will appear a little further +on. + +The old college chapel where I had attended morning and evening prayer +during my college course had been converted into a hospital dining room. +On July 22, a few days after my arrival, the convalescents were taking +their midday meal in this room when the clatter of a horse's feet was +heard. There was some commotion outside and the men hurriedly left the +table to investigate its cause. It required but a few minutes to size up +the situation. A few feet from the door on a horse covered with foam sat +a red-headed Yankee in blue uniform and with full equipment. The +expected raid had materialized and Garrard's division of Federal cavalry +had possession of the town. Most of the convalescents returned hastily +to their quarters without finishing their dinner, The writer, not +knowing when or where his next meal would be taken returned to the table +and replenished his commissary department to its fullest capacity. The +raiders scattered through the village, pillaging to some extent private +residences, destroying government cotton and in this way burning the +home of Mr. Irvine, an old citizen of the place. In due time they +reached the premises of the lady, to whom reference has already been +made. Her husband was not at home. He was an honored minister of the +Methodist church and was considered the champion snorer of the +conference to which he belonged. It was said that his family had become +so accustomed to the sonorous exercise of his talent in this line that +during his absence from home at night, they were forced to substitute +the grinding of a coffee mill to secure sleep. I am not prepared, +however, to vouch for the absolute accuracy of this statement. Whether +on this occasion he had received intimation of the enemy's approach, and +emulating the example of other male citizens of the village, had made +himself conveniently absent, I do not now recall. His wife, possibly +relying on the fact that she was Northern born, or on providential +interposition, for exemption from any war indemnity that her blue-coated +guests might be disposed to exact, received them courteously and as long +as their levy was confined to chickens from the barnyard or hams from +the smoke house she managed to maintain her equilibrium. But when, in +addition to these minor depredations, they bridled her pet family horse +and led him forth to "jine the cavalry," patience ceased to be a virtue. +This crowning indignity furnished the straw that fractured the spinal +column of the proverbial camel. She rose, in her righteous wrath and in +plain and vigorous English she gave them her opinion of the Yankee army +in general, and of her unwelcome guests in particular. Her indignant +protest was unavailing. The stable was thenceforth tenantless, and as +Tennyson might have said, she mourned for the tramp of a vanished horse +and the sound of a neigh that was still. + +At 3 p. m. the convalescents were formed into line with orders to report +to the provost marshal. We had marched but a little way, when a Federal +colonel ordered us to disband until 5 p. m. I had borrowed the novel +"Macaria" from a Miss Harrison in the village and decided to spend the +interval in completing its perusal. I retired to my cot in the college +chapel, but somehow the book did not interest me. Visions of a Federal +prison peered at me from every page and I gave it up. Having made an +engagement to take tea with Mr. Harrison's family that evening, I +concluded, if allowed to leave the building, to return the book. Going +down to reconnoiter I saw one of our men walk up the street without +being halted, and with as indifferent air as I could assume, I followed +suit. + +Reaching Mr. Harrison's house I found the family anxious and excited. +Mr. H., to avoid capture, had concealed himself in the garden. I +expressed my regrets to Mrs. H. that I was unable to keep my engagement, +as I had another, which was a little more pressing. She insisted that I +remain with them until the hour for leaving and I sat down to meditate +on the fate that the future had in store for me. When a boy I had often +sung the old hymn containing the words: + +"Sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers," but the prospect that +loomed up before me that summer afternoon had no flavor of sugar or +honey and, as I now recall it, not even a trace of sorghum molasses to +shade its bitterness. As I sat there on the piazza, a Federal brigade +passed in a short distance of the house followed by a crowd of +contrabands. One of the soldiers came in and took a ham from the pantry +without taking the trouble to ask for it. Others passed through the yard +on other errands. Nothing was said to me and I made no special effort to +attract their attention. I was saying nothing, but I was doing some +pretty tall thinking. The idea had occurred to me, either, as Judge +Longstreet has said, by "internal suggestion or the bias of +jurisprudence," that if I remained quietly where I was, I might be +overlooked and I decided to make the experiment. At 5 p. m. the squad of +convalescents was re-formed and marched off under guard, passing within +a short distance of where I sat. Possibly I felt that my place was +properly among them, but I felt no disposition to halt them in order to +secure it and my heart grew lighter as the line grew dim in the distance +and finally vanished. I have sometimes been accused of being +absent-minded, but on that occasion I had reason to be grateful for +being absent-bodied. + +At nightfall I returned to my hospital cot and slept the sleep of the +just. I was in no hurry to rise next morning until at 9 a. m., some one +came in and reported that all the raiders had shaken the dust of Oxford +from their feet. My escape was due to "Macaria" and for that reason I +have always felt kindly towards the book and its author. In my condition +a Northern prison would have meant for me slow death and an unmarked +grave and these records would have been unwritten or penned by other +hands. + + +A SLAVES LOYALTY. + +On the same day Col. H. D. Capers of the 12th Ga. Battalion, was in +Oxford recuperating from a wound received in Virginia. Being advised of +the approach of Garrard's division, he leaped through a rear window of +his residence and taking a country road proceeded to change his base at +double-quick step. Learning of his escape a squad of cavalry started in +pursuit and on reaching a fork in the road they asked a negro standing +by which route Col. Capers had taken. The slave, faithful to his +master's friend, intentionally misinformed them and before the error was +discovered the colonel was safely hidden. + +This act of faithfulness recalls the unswerving loyalty of the race +during the horrors of a four years' struggle, whose issue meant their +freedom. Suggesting as it does the ties of friendship between master and +servant in the old slave days, it furnishes a reason for the kindly +interest the South still feels in the remnant of a class that is fading +from the earth and may account for the further fact that on this +institution, despite its faults, there rested for a hundred years +Heaven's benediction and the smile of God. + + +ONE AGAINST THREE THOUSAND. + +Rumors of the raid had been current for several days before its +occurrence, and a Mr. Jones, a citizen of Covington, Ga., whose hatred +of everything blue had been inflamed by reports of outrages committed by +Sherman's army, pledged himself to kill the first Federal soldier who +approached his home. Learning that Garrard's division had reached the +town, he loaded his squirrel rifle and taking his stand in front of the +court house he awaited his opportunity. He had been on post but a little +while when a Federal cavalryman approached with a squad of convalescents +captured at the hospital. Jones allowed him to come within close range +and then raised his rifle. The Yankee shouted to him: "Don't shoot," but +his purpose was not to be changed and his victim dropped from the +saddle. Reloading his rifle and changing his position to another street +a second squad of prisoners came by and again his rifle brought down its +game. Reloading the third time he intercepted a platoon of cavalry and +fired into it, wounding two of them. They captured him, shot him to +death and then beat out his brains with the butts of their rifles. He +doubtless anticipated such a fate and went coolly to certain death with +no hope of fame and with only the satisfaction of getting two for one. + +Geo. Daniel, a Confederate quartermaster, chanced to be at home on +furlough in Covington on the same day. He had been out bird hunting that +morning and on his return was captured by the Yankees, who enraged by +the killing of two of their men by Jones, determined to shoot Daniel +simply because he was found with a gun in his hand. His protest that he +was out for no hostile purpose availed him nothing. He was ordered to +face his executioners and an effort was made to bind a handkerchief over +his eyes. He drew it away and said, "No, a Confederate soldier can face +death without being blindfolded." The rifles rang out and he fell, +another victim to the humane influence of Northern civilization. + + +A BRAVE CAROLINA MAIDEN. + +During my stay at the Oxford hospital a number of ladies who had +refugeed from Charleston, So. Ca., were making their home in the +village. Among them was a Miss Fair, a beautiful girl with a wealth of +wavy brown hair. An ardent Southerner and anxious to benefit the cause +she loved, she had determined to visit Sherman's army around Atlanta as +a spy, bringing out such information as she would be able to procure. + +The raven locks were sacrificed, the face and hands were died, a cracker +bonnet and homespun dress were donned and supplied with a basket of +parched ground peas she tramped around the Federal camps, keeping her +eyes and ears open. Making the trip safely, she returned to Oxford and +mailed a letter to Gov. Brown, giving him the information she had +obtained as to Sherman's force and plans. When Garrard's division +entered Oxford, this letter was in the post office and was captured +with other mail matter. It was read by the raiders after they left the +town and a squad was sent back to search for the fair writer, but +fortunately she was securely hidden in the attic of Mr. River's home, +while her father was concealed in a well on the premises. Few braver +acts have been recorded of grim visaged warriors than the daring feat +accomplished by this fair-faced daughter of the South. + + +A GEORGIA "HOSS." + +While the raiders were in possession of the town, one of them belonging +to a Michigan regiment rode up to the gate of the home where this girl +was staying. The lady of the house was sitting on the porch and the +cavalryman saluted her with the remark, "See what a fine Georgia "hoss" +I have." "Yes," she replied, "one you stole I suppose." Turning to her +ten-year-old son standing by the soldier said, "Here, boy, hold this +"hoss." "I'd see you at the d--l first," replied the little Confederate. +This boy, now a middle-aged man, tells me that it was his first and last +use of improper language in the presence of his Christian mother, and +that for some reason she failed on that occasion to administer even a +mild reproof. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +NASHVILLE CAMPAIGN. + + +As we marched more than 800 miles in this campaign, and as a record of +these movements would probably interest only my old comrades, the +general reader has my cheerful permission to skip the following +condensed extracts from my journal and to turn his or her attention to +the special incidents which succeed them. On Sept. 8, '64, two days +after the enemy had abandoned our front at Lovejoy Station, we moved up +to a position one mile above Jonesboro, remaining there ten days. On the +18th we moved to Fairburn and on the 19th to Palmetto, where we +fortified our position and remained until the 29th. Gen. Mercer having +been assigned to another field of duty, Gen. Smith, on the 25th, assumed +command of our brigade. On the 26th President Davis reviewed the army +and on the 28th Gen. Hardee, having asked to be relieved, took leave of +his old corps and Gen. Cheatham was made corps commander. On the 29th we +began our northward march for the purpose of destroying Sherman's line +of communication, passing by easy stages of ten to twenty miles a day, +over the ground we had traversed in the recent campaign and reaching the +vicinity of Dalton, Ga., on Oct. 13th. Here we destroyed three miles of +railroad track, burning the cross-ties and bending the rails by laying +them across the burning ties and twisting them around the trees that +stood near the track. After capturing the garrisons at Dalton and +Tilton, and tearing up a section of the E. T. & Ga. R. R., we left on +the 14th for Gadsden, Ala., en route to Nashville. Hood had decided to +abandon the plan of campaign mapped out by President Davis and himself +and to advance into Tennessee. + +Passing through Villanow, Lafayette, Alpine and Blue Pond, we arrived at +Gadsden Oct. 20th. Resting here a day we are off again and for four days +are tramping over the arid stretches of Sand Mountain, reaching the +vicinity of Decatur, Ala., on the evening of the 26th. My journal for +that day has this entry: "March delayed by bridge falling in. Very muddy +tramp after nightfall. Slept under a corn crib." Two days later it has +this entry: "Two ears of corn issued to each man as rations." + +Decatur was occupied by a Federal force and after some skirmishing on +the 27th and 28th we resumed our march, passing through Courtland on the +30th, Tuscumbia on the 31st and camping near the Tennessee river on the +evening of that day. Here we remained until Nov. 13th, when we crossed +the river on a pontoon bridge and camped near Florence. On the 14th we +fortified our position and on the 19th Hood began his march to intercept +Schofield in his effort to unite with Thomas at Nashville. Our brigade +was detached to ferry the wagon train across the river and on the 20th +we tramped 12 or 14 miles through a driving snowstorm in a bitterly cold +wind to reach Cheatham's Ferry. I recall the fact that my face became so +thoroughly chilled that the snow that fell on it failed to melt. After a +week's work at the ferry, we left on the 28th in charge of the wagon +train to rejoin our command. On Dec. 1st we struck the Nashville +turnpike and on the 2d received our first information of the battle of +Franklin, which had occurred Nov. 30, and in which our division had +suffered so heavily. Passing through Columbia and Spring Hill on the 3d +and Franklin and the battle ground in its front on the 4th we rejoined +our division near Nashville on the 5th. Next day the Oglethorpes were on +the picket line, were relieved on the 7th and on the 8th our brigade was +ordered to report to Gen. Forrest near Murfreesboro. Under Forrest's +direction the 9th and 10th were spent in tearing up railroad track +encased in snow and sleet, terribly cold work. + +Two days' rest with the thermometer at 9 degrees and on the 13th we are +again destroying railroad track near Lavergne. On the morning of the +15th our brigade and Palmer's started out under Forrest to capture a +Federal supply train. Fording Stone river and marching 10 or 12 miles in +the direction of Murfreesboro Forrest is halted by an order from Hood to +hold himself in readiness to go to his aid, as the battle of Nashville +was in progress. Next day we moved back to the Nashville turnpike to +await the issue at Nashville. During the night Forrest received news of +Hood's defeat and with it orders to form a junction with the retreating +army at Columbia. + +As the details of our march to that point, of our assignment to the rear +guard and of the retreat to Corinth, Miss., will be given in succeeding +sketches, it is unnecessary to duplicate them here. + + +A CHRISTMAS DAY WITH FORREST. + +It was the winter of '64, and to those of us who wore the grey it was +likewise the "winter of our discontent." The hopes of the Confederacy +were on the wane. The clouds that hung above it had no silver lining, +free or otherwise. Sherman was "marching through Georgia," leaving in +his wake the ashes of many a Southern home. Hood's reckless raid on +Nashville had ended in disaster and his ragged battalions were making +tracks for the Tennessee river, (some of them with bare feet) at a +quickstep known to Confederate tactics as "double distance on half +rations." The morale of the army was shattered if not destroyed. If the +soliloquy of a gaunt Tennesseean as he rose from a fall in the mud on +the retreat fairly represented the sentiment of his comrades, it was +badly shattered. He is reported to have said: "Ain't we in a ---- of a +fix, a one-eyed president, a one-legged general and a one-horse +Confederacy." + +The Oglethorpes had fortunately escaped the butchery at Franklin against +which Forrest had so strongly protested. As this immunity was due to +our having been detained with Smith's brigade to ferry a salt train +across the Tennessee river, salt had literally "saved our bacon." + +After rejoining the army, we had been again detached to operate under +Forrest near Murfreesboro and in this way had missed the rout at +Nashville. Aside from these immunities the campaign had been one of +exceptional hardships. The weather was bitterly cold and our wardrobes +were not excessively heavy. The writer wore a thin fatigue jacket, with +no overcoat and slept under a single blanket with the thermometer at +nine degrees above zero. For a week prior to the retreat we had been +engaged in the pleasant pastime of handling with ungloved hands, +railroad ties and rails encased in sleet and snow. In addition to these +hardships our commissary department was but illy supplied. And yet I +cannot recall a single complaint made by a soldier during that campaign. +It is my deliberate conviction, based upon this and similar evidence, +that the Confederate soldier fought harder on shorter rations and +grumbled less under greater privations than any soldier in history. The +battle of Nashville opened on the morning of December 15th and for two +days, thirty miles away, we listened to the thunder of the artillery and +anxiously awaited the issue. At 1 a. m. Dec. 17th we were aroused to +begin the longest, hardest forced march of our four years' service. +Columbia, the point of junction with Hood's retreating army, is sixty +miles away and we have to make it in forty-eight hours or run the risk +of almost certain capture by a force ten times our own. It is cold, dark +and raining--a dreary combination. The roads are a mass of mud and +before we have tramped a mile one of my shoe strings breaks, leaving the +shoe imbedded six inches deep in the yielding soil. Fishing it out, I +resume the march with one bare foot, but the rocks in the mud cut and +bruise it at every step and I am forced to stop for repairs. Taking the +strap from my rolled blanket, slits are cut in the flaps of the shoe, +the strap is buckled around so as to hold it in place, and I hurry +forward to rejoin my command. For twenty-one hours we plow wearily +through the mud, camping at 10 p. m. after marching 35 miles. Dr. +McIntyre, in one of his Lyceum lectures, says that he had no proper +appreciation of either absolute silence or absolute darkness until he +stood within the central chamber of the Wyandotte cavern. If he had +tramped with Forrest that winter day he would probably have added to his +experience an adequate conception of absolute fatigue. + +Five hours' rest and we are again on the march, but with slower step, +for the strain of the previous day has told on the boys. In the early +morning we halt to rest and I breakfast on an ear of corn picked up by +the roadside, smearing it with black grease scraped from the bottom of +my frying pan. About midday Forrest dismounts a number of his cavalry +and gives up his own horse for a time to help the "barefoot" brigade +along. By 10 p. m. we have made 25 miles and are completely fagged. +Only five of the thirty Oglethorpes reach camp that night, Dick Morris, +the writer, and three others whose names I do not recall. Dick is +short-limbed, but he has the grit and the habit of getting there. On +reaching Columbia we are assigned to the rear guard under Forrest and +Walthall, who are instructed by Hood to sacrifice every man in the +command if necessary to ensure the safety of his army. Manning trenches +half filled with snow and holding the enemy in check for a few days so +as to give Hood a fair start in the race, we begin our retreat Dec. 22 +and on Christmas Eve camp near Pulaski, Tenn. Coiled up in a single +blanket on the cold, bare ground, no visions of Santa Claus nor hopes of +a Christmas menu on the morrow brighten our dreams. + +Early Christmas morning we are gathered around the camp fire awaiting +orders to march. Frank Stone, tall and thin, so thin that Charlie +Goetchius had advised him always to present a side view to the enemy, as +a minie ball would never reach his anatomy in that position, ambles up +on a horse he had secured from one of the cavalry. Frank had tried +manfully to keep up with the procession. Half sick, his shoes worn +soleless and his feet lacerated and bleeding, he had marched when every +step was agony and had crawled over the rocky portions of the road on +his hands and knees until human nature could endure no more. Fortunately +one of Forrest's cavalry gave him a lift that saved him from a Northern +prison. Frank had no saddle and to supply that need the boys had piled +his steed with blankets to a depth of five or six inches. As he rode up +his eye fell on a lot of cooking utensils that had to be left for lack +of transportation, and turning to Will Daniel he said, "Lieutenant, +hadn't I better take along some of these?" Gen. Forrest was standing a +few feet away, grave and silent. Attracted by Frank's question, he +turned and inspecting the blanket outfit for a moment he said, "I think +you've got a ---- sight more now than you're entitled to." Frank made +no reply, but the criticism was thoroughly unjust for no truer, braver +soldier wore the grey. + +The bugle sounds and we are again on the march. About midday we halt on +the summit of a ridge with an old line of breastworks skirting its +crest. Glad to have a rest we adjust ourselves to take advantage of the +respite, when the ominous "Fall in," "Fall in" comes down the line. The +ranks are hastily formed, the trenches are manned and Morton's battery +is planted a short distance in their rear and commanding the road. Our +regiment is placed as a support for the battery and as we line up, +Forrest passes us on foot going to the front in a half bent position. +Reaching the trenches he watches the advance of the enemy for a few +minutes and then hurries to the rear. In a moment we hear the clatter of +a horse's feet and the "Wizard of the Saddle" dashes by at half speed, +riding magnificently, his martial figure as straight as an arrow and +looking six inches taller than his wont, a very god of war, yelling as +he reaches the waiting ranks: "Charge!" "Charge!" "CHARGE!" Over the +breastworks flashes a line of grey and down the slope they sweep, +yelling at every step. The captain commanding our regiment is undecided +as to his duty, but finally orders us to retain our position in the rear +of the battery. Just then Gen. Featherston rides up, "What regiment is +this?" "63rd Ga." "What are you doing here?" "Supporting this battery." +"Battery the d--l. Get over them breastworks and get quick," and we +"get." But the skirmish is soon over. The Yankees have fled, leaving a +piece of artillery and a number of horses in our possession. + +We hold our position until late in the afternoon, when "Red" Jackson, +with his cavalry, relieves us and we resume the march. As we are filing +off the enemy reappears and the cavalry carbines are waking the echoes. +We are directly in the line of fire and the hiss of the minies does not +make pleasant music to march by. But Jackson repels the attack and we +have no further trouble with our friends, the enemy. Night comes on and +if there was ever a darker or more starless one I can not place it. +Tramping, tramping in the cold and mud and darkness, companies and +regiments are all commingled and no one knows where he is, or where he +ought to be. Too dark to see the file next in front, we walk by faith +and not by sight. Elmore Dunbar was carrying the colors and but for his +occasional whistling imitation of the bugle call in order to let us +know "where he was at," our regiment would have lost in the darkness all +semblance of its organization. I can not well conceive how a larger +share of unadulterated physical comfort could have been compressed into +the five solid hours for which we kept it up. + +At 11 p. m. we are ordered to halt, and camp near Sugar Creek. The sound +never was more welcome, nor fell more sweetly on our ears than on that +Christmas night. Dinnerless and supperless and completely worn out we +hailed it with almost rapture for it brought the promise of rest and +sleep. Of all the Christmas days that have come to me in life, only this +stands out in gloomy prominence as utterly wanting in every element of +the season's cheer and gladness. Yet looking backward through the mists +of more than thirty years, recalling all its dangers and discomforts, +its toil and weariness and hunger, I would not if I could blot that +day's record from my memory, for o'er its somber shadows fell and falls +today the light that comes to every true heart in the path of duty; +while gilding all its gloom there comes across the waste of years a +vision of the knightly Forrest, the bravest of the brave, for as he rode +the lines that day, the light of battle in his eye and the thunderous +"Charge!" upon his lips he rode into my heart as well, the impersonation +of chivalry, and rides there still. + + +CLOSING DAYS OF THE CAMPAIGN. + +Early on the morning of the 26th the Federal cavalry came within range +of our camp during a dense fog. A volley scattered them and our cavalry +drove them back for two miles. + +Holding our position for two hours, and no further advance being made by +the enemy, we resumed the march, camping at night near Lexington. A +march of 12 miles on the 27th brought us to the Tennessee river, which +had already been crossed by Hood with his army and wagon train. During +the night, in expectation of an attack by the enemy, we were moved into +a line of breastworks which had been vacated by Loring's division, but +we had seen the last of our blue-coated friends for that campaign. +Crossing the river on the 28th we found on its Southern bank and near +the end of the pontoon bridge, 10 or 12 dead mules, and among them three +or four grey specimens of that much abused animal. I had heard when a +boy that a grey mule never died, that they were gifted with a sort of +equine immortality. And now this dogma of my early days found its +complete subversion, for these were not only dead, but as Gen. Jno. C. +Brown said to us in North Carolina afterwards, when asked as to +President Lincoln's death, they were "very dead." Unable to resist the +force of this absolute demonstration of the fact, I have always believed +since that a grey mule could die, though if further personal evidence +were demanded I would be unable to produce it. + +After crossing the river and without stopping to hold a post-mortem +examination on these faithful animals, who robed in grey had died in the +cause, we set out to rejoin our division at Corinth, Miss. Passing +through Tuscumbia Bartow and Cherokee, we reached Birnsville, Miss., on +the evening of Dec. 31st. Here in the waning hours of the dying year, +after tramping eight hundred miles in absolute health I lay down and had +an old-fashioned Burke county chill. Lying by a log-heap fire through +the long watches of the winter night, my changes of base in the effort +to keep the chilly side of my body next to the blazing logs were almost +continuous. My old comrade Joe Warren, whose stalwart frame in company +with Jim Thomas, Bill Jones and Eph Thompson graced the leading "file of +fours" in this campaign was wont to say that a certain brand of whiskey +had "a bad far'well." So the closing year had for the writer at least "a +bad far'well." The New Year found me unable to travel. Lying over until +Jan. 2d, in company with several other invalids, I secured a seat on top +of a dilapidated box car. We had ridden only a mile, when the conductor +fearing the concern would collapse and kill us all, kindly invited us to +step down and out. Complying with some degree of reluctance I shouldered +my gun and after a tramp of fifteen miles rejoined my command at +Corinth, Miss., where the shattered remnant of Hood's army had gathered. + + +SOME INCIDENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN. + +"GO OFF AND WASH YOURSELVES." + +After the death of Gen. W. H. T. Walker, in July, '64, our brigade was +assigned to Pat Cleburne's division. In his younger days he had served +in the English army and had probably imbibed his ideas of military +discipline from that service. On Sept. 26, '64, near Jonesboro, Ga., the +army was reviewed by President Davis and in the afternoon of that day +our regiment was ordered to appear at Cleburne's headquarters for +inspection. The men had received no intimation of the order and some of +the companies were not in a very cleanly condition either as to dress or +arms. Soap was scarce and but little time had been spent on their +toilets. The inspection proceeded without comment from Cleburne until +the company commanded by Capt. Joe Polhill of Louisville, Ga., was +reached. Cleburne looked over the ranks with his keen Irish eyes as +Capt. Dixon inspected the arms, and then in a tone indicating some +degree of disgust, said, "Attention company! Shoulder arms. Close order, +march. Right face. Forward by file right--march. Go off and wash +yourselves," and the regiment was ordered back to its quarters. Will +Daniel, jealous of the reputation of the Oglethorpes, who had not been +inspected, addressed a note to Gen. Cleburne protesting against the +implied reflection on his company, to which the General replied that no +reflection was intended where no inspection was made. In justice to +Capt. Polhill and his company it is only proper to say that at a +subsequent inspection next day they redeemed their reputation. + + +PARTING WITH HARDEE. + +On the displacement of Gen. Johnston in July, 64, Gen. Hardee, as the +ranking lieutenant general in the Army of Tennessee, felt aggrieved at +the promotion of Gen. Hood above him, but was too patriotic to ask for +an assignment to other fields while his lines were facing the enemy. At +the close of the campaign he did prefer this request and on Sept. 28 +took leave of his old corps. Many of them had followed him from Shiloh +to Jonesboro. His almost unbroken success as brigade, division and corps +commander had given him the title of the "Old Reliable." Even at +Missionary Ridge his corps held its line and on a portion of it, at the +suggestion of Gen. Alfred Cumming, made a counter charge, driving the +enemy from their front. At Ringgold Gap and in every assault upon his +lines during the Dalton and Atlanta Campaign Hardee had repulsed the +attacking column, with the single exception of Jonesboro, where ten +lines of battle had been massed against Govan's thinly manned trenches. +For these reasons his old corps was loth to give him up. On the evening +before his departure large numbers of his command went over to bid him +good-bye. In a simple and touching address he expressed his deep regret +at parting from those with whom he had been associated so long, but said +that he would be with them in spirit if not in person and hoped they +would always sustain the reputation they had so gallantly won. "I leave +you," said he, "but I leave you in good hands, Frank Cheatham's. Frank +and Pat go well together. If Frank fails you, you have Pat to fall back +upon." Just then a soldier, who had climbed a tree and was sitting on a +limb 20 feet from the ground, sang out, "Yes, General, and Crazy Bill +ain't far off," alluding to Gen. Bate. The scene was a very affecting +one and after speeches by Gen. Gist and Gen. Capers of So. Ca., closed +with appropriate music rendered by the band. + + +GEN. BATE AS A POET AND WIT. + +The allusion to Gen. Bate in the preceding incident recalls an address +made by him Oct. 21, '64, at Gadsden, Ala., where we had halted for a +day on our trip to Nashville. On the evening of that day the officers +were serenaded by the army bands and responses were made by Beauregard, +Cleburne, Clayton and Bate. The last sparkled with eloquence and wit and +was the gem of the evening. Gov. Brown of Georgia, had issued an order +exempting a goodly number of citizens of conscript age in each county +from military service for the purpose of raising provisions for the +army, sorghum being named as one of the products to be so used. This +order had created a feeling of resentment in the minds of those at the +front and Gen. Bate, in voicing this sentiment, and in criticism of Gov. +Brown's action, impromptued the following parody on Campbell's downfall +of Poland: + + "What tho' destruction sweep these lovely plains, + Who cares for liberty while sorghum yet remains? + With that sweet name we wave our knives on high, + And swear to cut it while we live and suck it till we die." + +Gen. Bate's bravery as an officer equalled his wit as a speaker, but his +division had been unfortunate in several engagements and other troops +were disposed to guy it, saluting it as it passed them with, "Lie down +Bate, we are gwine to bust a cap" or "scorch a feather," and such like +sallies of so-called wit. Our regiment had indulged in this pastime to +some extent and this fact seems to have come to the knowledge of the +General. At the battle of Bentonville in March, '65, we were assigned to +Bates' corps. In the early morning an assault was made on Govan's +brigade, on our immediate left, and as we were without breastworks we +were ordered to lie down. As we had not been on the firing line for some +time and the whistle of the minies had grown a little unfamiliar, we +obeyed the order very promptly, lying as flat as possible without +imbedding ourselves in the ground, and in the case of Frank Stone and +the writer this was pretty flat. Gen. Bate rode up to our line and +asked, "What command is this?" "63rd Ga.," was the reply. "Why, boys, +you lie mighty close. I came very near riding over you without seeing +you. Never tell Bate to lie down any more," and we didn't. + + +PAT CLEBURNE AS AN ORATOR. + +Gen. Cleburne was a better fighter than speaker, and yet his oratory was +sometimes very effective. Of his address on the occasion above referred +to I recall but a single sentiment uttered by him. After referring to +the outrages committed by Northern troops on Southern soil he said, "I +am not fighting for right, I am fighting for vengeance." Of another +address delivered by him on the same day I retain a more vivid +recollection. Two soldiers of our brigade had appropriated a hog +belonging to some citizen living near Gadsden, and the matter was +reported to Gen. Cleburne. The brigade was ordered out and formed into a +hollow square facing inwards. The two culprits were brought in under +guard and placed in the center of the square and then Cleburne and his +staff rode in. With the culprits before him and in the presence and +hearing of the entire brigade he for fifteen minutes abused and demeaned +and shamed them until I think they were thoroughly reformed on that +particular line of moral depravity. On the march, some days later, the +road we were traveling changed direction abruptly to the right. A corn +field lay on that side and a number of the boys, with the view of +shortening their tramp that day, leaped the fence and took the +hypotenuse of the triangle rather than walk the longer distance +represented by the other two sides. Gen. Cleburne, who was riding at the +head of the division, probably suspected such a result and when he had +reached the corner of the field where they would come out he stopped +his horse and quietly awaited their coming. As they reached the road, +singly or in pairs, the General gave them a brief but pointed lecture on +the sin of straggling, and to impress it more forcibly on their memories +he told them in his suave Irish way that they could each take a rail +from the fence and carry it on their shoulders for the next half mile. +It was a new, but not a pleasant form of traveling by rail. If my memory +is not at fault one of the Oglethorpes had the honor of membership in +the rail squad that day, and probably has still a feeling recollection +of the incident. He was something of a vocalist in those days and was +wont to enliven the march with the tender strains of "Faded Flowers," +"The Midnight Train," "Benny Havens Ho," and other popular musical +selections, but on that day his lyre was voiceless and all its music +hushed. + + +HOOD'S STRATEGY. + +This incident has no reference to Gen. John B. Hood, whose strategy in +this campaign was apparently conspicuous only by its absence. It refers +only to Private Hood of the Oglethorpes, who joined our ranks in '63 or +'64, probably at Thunderbolt. As I recall his personality, he was an +undergrown youth of sallow complexion and uncertain age. On our march to +Nashville he grew sick or tired, and stopped at the home of a citizen to +recuperate. Some days later a squad of Yankee soldiers stopped at the +house, and Hood, deeming prudence the better part of valor, dropped his +grey uniform and donning a suit belonging to the son of his host, passed +himself off as a member of the family. While chatting with the visitors +one of them said to him, "Well, Bud, haven't they got you in the army +yet?" "No, sir," said Hood, "and they ain't agoing to either." "That's +right, my boy," and with Hood's assurance that he had no idea of +"jining," they bade him good-bye and went their way. Some weeks later he +rejoined us, congratulating himself on the success of his strategy. + + +A LUCKY FIND. + +While ferrying the army train across the Tennessee river, the flat in +charge of Sergeant S. C. Foreman of the Oglethorpes, brought in a box or +case containing three hundred pounds of nice dry salted bacon. It was +reported to me that they had found it floating down the river and +supposed it had been thrown in by the Federal garrison at Florence to +prevent its capture by Hood's army. I swallowed the story and some of +the meat and had no occasion to question the correctness of the +information until Sam Woods told me in '98 that he found it lying in +shallow water near the river bank, and George McLaughlin afterwards +intimated that it was stolen from the wagon train. Whatever may have +been the method by which it came into our possession I remember that it +was divided among the members of the company as extra rations. I recall +the further fact that my mess secured that afternoon a large wash pot +and a supply of corn and boiled up a peck or two of "lye hominy." On the +next day we began our march to rejoin the army and for 17 miles, in +addition to my gun, bayonet, cartridge box and forty rounds of +cartridges, heavy blanket, tent fly and haversack with two day's +rations, I carried 6 or 8 pounds of this bacon and a bucket of the +hominy. The aggregate weight must have been 50 or 60 pounds, a pretty +fair load for a "light weight." + + +"WHO ATE THE DOG." + +This inquiry, while not invested with the same degree of mystery, nor +enjoying as large a measure of notoriety as "Who struck Billy +Patterson?" nevertheless echoed on many a hillside and enlivened many a +camp fire on our trip to Nashville. The incident which gave rise to it +occurred soon after we left the Tennessee river on this ill-fated tramp. +To prevent depredations upon the property of citizens along the route of +our march, a provost guard had been formed, in command of which was +placed an officer now living not a thousand miles from Augusta, but who +shall be nameless here, partly out of respect to his feelings and partly +out of regard for my own. He has warned me that a different course would +be followed by an aggravated case of assault and battery and I do not +care to put the courts to unnecessary expense. + +Stringent orders were issued by Gen. Smith to arrest any man found in +possession of fresh meat, for which he could give no satisfactory +account. Several arrests had been made and the captured meat had been +confiscated and appropriated by the provost guard to their own use, +benefit and behoof. To the men engaged in these depredations, justified +in their eyes by the shortness of their rations, these captures became a +little monotonous and they determined to find some means of retaliation. +One day a soldier was seen tramping through the woods with a suspicious +looking sack swinging from his shoulder and one of the guard ordered him +to halt. Instead of obeying the command he gave leg bail and the guard +started in pursuit. + +The forager encumbered with the weight of his plunder finally dropped it +and made his escape. The sack was found to contain, apparently, a leg of +mutton nicely dressed, which was turned over to the officer in command. + +In view of this tempting addition to the bill of fare, a brother +officer, who has since turned his sword into a spatula and is as well +versed now in drugs as he was then in tactics, was an invited guest at +the midday meal that day. Ample justice was done to the menu by all +concerned and all went merry as a marriage bell until the command had +halted for the night and the men, wearied by the day's march, were +resting around their camp fires. And then a change came o'er the spirit +of their dream. From one end of the camp, up through the stillness of +the evening air, there rose a cry, that like of noise of many waters, +rang and reverberated to its farthest bounds, "Who ate the dog?" And as +its echoes died away, from another camp fire in the same stentorian +tones there came the answer, "Lieut ----," naming the officer of the +provost guard. And on through the entire evening, at brief intervals and +without the stimulus of an encore the program was repeated. And now as +there flitted across the mental vision of the officer aforesaid the +memory of the mutton chops that had seemed so savory and toothsome, +there came to him a dim suspicion that he had been the victim of +misplaced confidence. Was it mutton or was it dog? As he debated the +question pro and con, he was forced to admit with Shakespeare that "all +that glitters is not gold," and with Longfellow, that "things are not +what they seem," and with Whittier that-- + + "Of all sad thoughts of tongue or pen, + The saddest are these, it might have been"--a dog. + +And now if the spirit of Poe will pardon me, + + All this dark and dread suspicion + Of such canine deglutition, + As it crossed his mental vision + Leading not to height elysian, + Made him sad and made him sadder, + Made him mad and made him madder, + And his soul from out its shadow + Shall be lifted, nevermore. + +For weeks and months, and indeed until the war closed, this canine ghost +would never down. He was not allowed to forget it. He was taunted and +barked at and dogged so constantly that no Lethean waters could wash out +the maddening memory. And the bitterness of it all was that the +perpetrators of the joke would give no intimation as to the special +breed that graced his table that winter day, whether + + "Mongrel, puppy, whelp or hound + Or cur of low degree." + +The size of the ham precluded the possibility of its having been a +bench-legged fice, but there was the torturing reflection that it might +have been what Mark Twain has termed the Ishmael of his race, the +"yaller dog," who if Mark is to be credited, has been "cursed in all his +generations and relations in his kindred by consanguinity and affinity +and in his heirs and assigns--cursed with endless hunger with perpetual +fear with perennial laziness with hopeless mange, with incessant fleas +and with his tail between his legs." + +These unpleasant reflections were, however, not confined to the officer +in command of the provost guard. A part of the meat had been sent to +brigade headquarters and it was said that an aide on the general's +staff, who had eaten very freely of the dish, suffered on learning of +its origin so serious a gastric disturbance that he vomited, as a +colored brother once put it, from Genesis to Revelations. + + "I know not how the truth may be, + I tell the tale as 'twas told to me." + +Regretting my inability, for reasons already stated, to answer this +inquiry more definitely, I can only say in conclusion as I heard Bob +Toombs once say in another connection, "In spite of compromises, +concessions and constitutions this question still marches onward for its +solution," who ate the dog? + + +WHERE IS THE OVEN? + +Army life is not specially conducive to personal cleanliness, nor to a +high regard for the minor proprieties of life. A young lady visiting +Camp McKenzie, near Augusta, Ga., during the Spanish-American war, was +shocked by seeing a soldier drop a piece of bread upon the ground and +after picking it up resume its mastication. If this sketch should meet +her eye, that feeling will probably be reawakened and intensified: + +During the later years of the Confederate war wash basins in camp were +an unknown quantity. The morning ablution, if performed at all, was +managed by pouring water on the hands from a canteen. Lieut. Blanchard, +I remember, always held his hands in cup shape until they were filled +and then dropped one, spilling all the liquid and washing his face with +the moistened palm of the other. In the bitter cold and constant +marching of the Nashville campaign I am satisfied that some of the boys +did not wash their faces nor comb their hair at less than weekly +intervals. As evidence of the infrequency of "bath tub nights" for +reasons stated, I recall the fact that I lost a calico handkerchief and +thought I had dropped it on the march. Some weeks afterwards in removing +my outer clothing for the first time after its disappearance, I found it +hidden away underneath the back of my vest. On our return to Corinth, +Miss., my mess took their underclothing to a lady to be washed and as +they had been wearing it a month or more without change, they apologized +for its condition. "No apology is necessary," she said, "I have washed +some for Forrest's cavalry that was so stiffened with dirt that they +were able to stand alone." + +How we managed to keep our pedal extremities in a cleanly condition I do +not recall save in a single instance and this, it is perhaps not amiss +to say, was an exceptional case and not a company custom. A member of +the Oglethorpes one day began his preparations for the midday meal. One +of the cooking utensils was missing and he sang out, "Where is the +oven?" A messmate some distance away shouted back, "Can't you wait till +I finish washing my feet in it?" I am not prepared to testify as to the +flavor of the bread that day as fortunately, I was not a member of that +particular mess. + + +AMENDE HONORABLE. + +It has been my purpose in these records to present the truth, the whole +truth and nothing but the truth. It has not been my purpose to do any +wrong, express or implied, to any member of either of the human or the +canine race. In justice therefore to the truth of history and to the +"yaller dog" as well, it is perhaps proper to say that since penning the +preceding "dog" sketch, an old comrade has informed me that the "mutton +(?) ham" to which allusion was made in that sketch, had its origin in +the anatomy of a "brindle" dog and not of one, who as Mark Twain says, +"slinks through life in a diagonal dog trot as if in doubt which end is +entitled to the precedence." My comrade claims to speak from personal +knowledge and not from hearsay testimony, and as his statement has not +been induced by the fear of punishment or the hope of reward, its +credibility can not be impeached. He says that the dog in question had +grown old in the service of his master and on account of age and +meritorious service had been placed on the retired list with full pay as +to rations, personal care, etc.; that in the enjoyment of the otium cum +dignitate attendant upon these conditions he had grown "fat" if not fair +and forty; that in an evil hour he was enticed away from the retirement +of his home and with malice aforethought slaughtered in cold blood while +his juicy hams were nicely dressed to tickle the palates of the provost +guard. + +As the yaller dog has already had assigned to him as many of the ills +that flesh is heir to as he can reasonably bear, it gives me pleasure to +make this amende honorable and to relieve him in this special instance +of any of the "white man's burden" even as an involuntary particeps +criminis in the transaction under consideration. Before giving final +dismissal to the subject it may not be amiss to say for the benefit of +the hospitable host and the appreciative guest at that midday meal that +if, as physiologists contend, every atom of our physical organism +undergoes a complete metamorphosis in every seven years of our +existence, it should comfort them to know that 28 years and seven months +ago by exact calculation, the last lingering trace of canine flavor in +their muscles, bones and blood and epidermis likewise had + + Gone glimmering through the dream + Of things that were, a schoolboy's tale, + The wonder of an hour. + + +COURAGE SUBLIME. + +In concluding these reminiscences of the Nashville campaign, a campaign +so fraught with disaster to our cause, I am glad to throw over them at +their close the glamour of an incident that in its display of infinite +courage gilds with its glory even the gloom of defeat. In a subsequent +sketch I shall have occasion to pay some tribute to the conspicuous +gallantry of the color-bearer of the First Florida regiment in our last +charge at Bentonville. Under the inspiration of the "Rebel Yell" and +the contagious enthusiasm and excitement of a charge men may have made +reputations for courage they would not sustain when subjected to the +test of "simply standing and dying at ease." This man, however, George +Register by name, was tried in both furnaces and came out pure gold. + +The incident referred to occurred at the battle of Franklin, Nov. 30, +'64. The failure of a staff officer to promptly deliver Hood's order to +Cheatham at Spring Hill had allowed Schofield to escape when the +interposition of a single division across his front would have resulted +in the capture of his army and would have ensured the success of the +campaign. And now the Federal army lay at Franklin heavily entrenched +while Hood, fretting over the blunder, determined to retrieve it by an +assault upon their works. Forrest protested that it would be a useless +sacrifice of life, would probably end in failure and offered to flank +Schofield out of his position in two hours if furnished a single +division of infantry to co-operate with his cavalry. Hood could not be +argued out of his purpose to fight and ordered his army into line. +Cleburne rode down his lines as his division filed into position and +passing an old friend, a captain in the ranks, he noticed that he was +barefooted and that his feet were bleeding. Stopping and dismounting he +asked the captain to pull off his boots and then requested him to try +them on his own feet. In reply to the captain's protest he said, "I am +tired wearing boots and can do without them," and then he rode away to +lead his last charge. Gen. Granbury, commanding a Texas brigade in +Cleburne's division, rode out in front of his men and said, "Boys, two +hours work this evening will shorten the war two years." Two hours +later, on that short November afternoon, the very flower of Hood's army +lay dead or dying in front of the Federal breastworks. Among them lay +Cleburne, Granbury, Adams, Gist, Strahl and Carter, six general offices, +a larger number than fell in three day's fighting at Gettysburg, or any +battle field in the four years' struggle. + +Under the murderous leaden hail that swept the open field over which +they passed, the First Florida Regiment was ordered to lie down to +secure some immunity from the fire that was rapidly thinning their +ranks. The entire regiment sank to the ground, save one of their number. +The color-bearer, unwilling to lower his flag, yet willing to show his +foe how a brave man could die, refused to avail himself of the partial +protection which a change in position would bring, and standing erect, +calmly faced the storm of shot and shell; faced it unmoved, while seven +of the eight color guards lying at his feet were killed or wounded; +faced it unflinchingly while the staff he held in his brave right hand +was three times shattered by hostile shot; faced it without a tremor +while the folds of his tattered flag were thirty times rent and torn by +hissing minies or shrieking shell; faced it calmly until the blessedness +of night had come to end the carnival of death, and stood there at its +close the very incarnation of courage and yet without the smell of fire +on his garments or the mark of shot or shell on his grey-clad form. + +I know not whether he still survives. I know not whether his radiant +deed has found a fitting recognition save in the memory of surviving +comrades. But living or dead, famous or forgotten, my hat goes off to +you today, George Register, in loving admiration of a heroism that in +soldierly devotion to the colors that you bore, crowns you an immortal +and rises to the region of the morally sublime. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE CLOSING CAMPAIGN. + + +A weeks' stay in the vicinity of Corinth, Miss., and orders were +received for the transfer of Stewart's and Cheatham's corps to the East +to aid Hardee in an effort to prevent a junction of the armies of Grant +and Sherman. + + +AN ARCTIC RIDE. + +Transportation by rail was furnished only to the sick and barefooted, +who were ordered to report at Corinth at daylight, Jan. 10th. Weakened +by an attack of chill and fever I joined the sick squad, which left camp +at 1 a. m., tramped through the mud and rain, waded several streams and +reached Corinth in the early morning with our clothing wet to our knees. +In this condition, with no opportunity to dry our drenched garments, we +rode in a box car without fire on a cold winter day from 8 a. m. until 3 +p. m. The car was crowded and the heating arrangements were confined to +such exercise as we could take in the limited space we were forced to +occupy. I had never been taught to "trip the light fantastic toe" and +the figures I cut that day were more continuous than graceful. At +3 p. m. I told the Oglethorpes, who were with me, John Kirkpatrick and +Will Dabney among them, I remember, that while I was willing to die in +a soldierly way in battle, I did not propose to freeze to death, and +suggested that in order to secure an opportunity to thaw, we stop at the +next station, which chanced to be Baldwin, Miss. The motion was carried +unanimously, though not by a rising vote, as we already occupied from +necessity a standing position, our car having no furniture except a +floor and a door. To give the reader some gauge of the condition of the +railroads in that section at that stage of the war, it is only necessary +to say that we had traveled only 31 miles in 7 hours. We were kindly +received by a Mr. Kent, an old citizen of Baldwin, who regretted his +inability to furnish us anything but shelter and fire, as he had been +foraged upon by Yankees and Confederates alike until there was very +little meal in the barrel or oil in the cruse and "no prophet in all the +land to bless the scanty store." When the evening meal was ready, +however, he came to our room and with an apology to my comrades for +failing to include them in the invitation, he pressed the writer to +share his humble fare. Whether this discrimination in my favor was due +to my good looks, my winning ways or the appearance of chronic hunger in +my face, has remained to this day an unsolved problem. And yet whatever +may have been the right solution, it gives me pleasure through this +humble record to waft back over the waste of years my earnest +appreciation of his kindness to a sick and underfed Confederate. + + +CLEANED UP FINANCIALLY. + +No train passed next morning and we tramped down the railroad for 12 +miles, stopping at Saltillo for the night. None of us were well, the +weather was cold and to avoid sleeping on the damp, bare ground we began +to reconnoiter for better lodging. By reason possibly of the favorable +impression made by the writer on our host at Baldwin, I was made +spokesman for the occasion. Knocking at the residence of a Mrs. B. I +stated our condition in as impressive language as I could command and +emphasized our desire to avoid the exposure of sleeping on the cold, +damp ground. To this she replied that she was a widow, living there +alone, that she knew nothing of us, and that while she disliked to turn +off Confederate soldiers, she could not feel that it would be proper or +prudent for her to entertain a company of utter strangers. "Well, +madame," I replied, "I appreciate your position and if you feel the +slightest hesitancy, we will not insist." "Walk in sir," she replied, +"You can stay." She told me afterwards that if I had pressed my appeal +she would have turned us away, but that my failure to do so convinced +her that we were gentlemen. It may be as well to confess that I had +anticipated such an objection and had framed my reply to meet it. + +During the evening she told us with quivering lips, of the death of her +soldier boy in Virginia, of her sad mission in visiting the battle field +to recover his body and lay it away in the old family burying ground, +and spoke so feelingly of her attachment to our cause that on retiring +to our room I remember that we entertained some fears that an offer of +compensation for our entertainment might offend her. The sum total of +our financial assets, as I recollect it, was a $20 Confederate bill +owned by Will Dabney. On taking our leave next morning we tendered it in +payment of our bill, thinking, of course, that she would decline it with +thanks, but we had reckoned without our host or at least without our +hostess. She accepted it with the remark that it would exactly square +the account, and we were turned out on the cold charity of the world +without a cent. + + 'Twas the last of our assets, + Gone glimmering alone. + All its blue-backed companions + Were wasted and gone, + No bill of its kindred + Nor greenback was night, + Not even a "shinplaster" + To spend for pie. + +In justice to our kind-hearted hostess, and lest some reader should +imagine that her charges were really extravagant, it is proper to say +that she had given five hungry soldiers a sumptuous supper and +breakfast, had lodged us on snowy feather beds and had accepted in +payment what was equivalent to one dollar or less in good money. If the +condition of our finances needs any explanation it may be found in the +fact that our last pay day had occurred just 12 months and ten days +before. + + * * * * * + +But I am spinning out these little incidents at too great length. +Resuming our march we were overtaken by our command and tramped with it +to Tupelo, where we remained 12 days. On January 25th we boarded the +cars for Meridian, but the train was overloaded and we traveled only 18 +miles in 12 hours, not very rapid transit. In order to lighten the load +two cars were detached and in one of them Lieut. Goetchius and ten of +the Oglethorpes, including the writer chanced to be passengers. After +two days' tramp through the "Prairie Lands" of Mississippi, our squad +secured transportation, rejoining our command at Meridian, Jan. 29. +Thence by rail to McDowell's Landing, by boat to Demopolis, by rail to +Selma and by boat to Montgomery, reaching that place 1 p. m., Feb. 1st. +The preceding night was a very cold one and as we were deck passengers +and no heating arrangements had been provided, a fire was built of fat +pine on a pile of railroad iron. Frank Lamar, I remember, sat on the +leeward side of the fire with the black smoke pouring into his face all +night, and next day could have played the role of negro minstrel without +the use of burnt cork. The writer kept his temperature above the +freezing point by volunteering as an aid to the fireman in the engine +room. + +Leaving Montgomery Feb. 2d, we reached Columbus, Ga., late in the +afternoon and on our arrival were met by a delegation of ladies, who +greeted us with a speech, a song and a supper. My journal, I regret to +say, records the fact that the supper was last but not least in the +degree of appreciation meted out to the trio by the boys. Passing +through Macon Feb. 3d, we arrived at Midway at 2 a. m. of the 4th and +remained there a day drawing clothing and blankets. Leaving the railroad +we marched through Milledgeville on the 5th, but did not stop to +investigate the condition of Gov. Brown's "collard patch." Reaching +Mayfield on the 7th we boarded the cars again, lay over at Camak and +arrived at Augusta on the evening of the 8th, the brigade going into +camp near Hamburg and the Oglethorpes remaining with friends and +relatives in the city. + + +A SAD HOME-COMING. + +Sixteen miles away, embowered in a grove of oak and elm, lay the home I +had left, holding within the sacred shadow of its walls all that I loved +best on earth. For nearly two months no tidings had come to me from +them. We had been so constantly on the move that the letters written had +never reached me. The latest message received had told me of my father's +illness, but its tone gave me hope of his early recovery. Our passage +through Augusta gave me the privilege of revisiting the old homestead, +but it was a sad home-coming. Twice since I had left it last the family +circle had been broken and the shadow of death had fallen on its +hearthstone. A few short months before in the autumnal haze of a +September day, as sweet a sister as brother ever owned had breathed out +her young life just as she was budding into womanhood. And now only a +week before I entered its portals again my father, worn out by the added +burdens imposed by the absorption of younger physicians in the military +service, had been laid away beneath the shadow of the trees in the city +of the dead. The reader will pardon, I trust, the filial tribute to his +worth that comes unbidden from my heart today. Beyond and above any +partial judgment born of the love I bore him, I have always thought him +the best and purest man I have ever known. It may be that no human life +can claim perfection and yet if his knew aught of fault or blemish in +all the years from boyhood to the grave, no human eye could see it. In +lofty purpose and in lowly, unremitting faithfulness to duty he lived +above the common plane of men, serving his generation by the will of +God, doing justly, loving mercy, walking humbly in all the paths his +Master's feet had trod and dying in the noontide of his usefulness, he +left to those who loved him, a name as pure and stainless as the snows +that winter's breath have heaped upon his grave. + + * * * * * + +After ten days' rest at home, in company with eight comrades of the +Oglethorpes, I left Augusta Feb. 20 to rejoin my command in upper South +Carolina, reaching it after six days' tramp, near Pomaria. I recall +only two or three incidents of that trip, that are seemingly worthy of +record in these pages. The night of Feb. 21 was spent near the residence +of Mr. Johnson Bland, who kindly sent to our bivouac an ample supply of +edibles for our evening meal. After they had been disposed of, the negro +messenger, who had brought the supplies, entertained us with a learned +disquisition on a species of ghosts, which he termed "hanks." Harrison +Foster, with his usual taste for scientific research, wanted to know how +the presence of these hanks could be detected and was informed that if +in traveling at night he felt the sudden touch of a warm breath of air +on his face he might rest assured that it was a "hank." Possibly to test +the sincerity of his conviction on the subject or to guard our slumbers +from the disturbing influence of an inroad of these restless spirits of +the night, Harrison gave the negro a gun and posted him as a lone sentry +in an adjacent graveyard. + +The next night was spent at the residence of Major Dearing. The family +were all away and Mr. Smith, who had charge of the plantation, kindly +gave us the use of the dwelling for the night. It was very handsomely +furnished and to the credit of our squad I desire to record the fact +that while silver forks and spoons were lying loosely around the dining +room, not one of them disappeared when we took our departure. There were +no Ben Butlers among us. Two nights later we slept in a Universalist +church, said to be haunted, not by "hanks," but by the ghost of its +former pastor, Mr. Stitch. My journal records the further fact that on +the evening before we rejoined our command the entire squad suffered +from an aggravated attack of the "blues." In whatever way the fact may +be accounted for, there is but one other similar entry for the four +years' service. An hour or two after reaching the camp of our regiment +we began the march for Chester, reaching that place March 5th. Remaining +there until the 10th we left by rail for Charlotte, but by reason of an +accident, failed to arrive at our destination until the evening of the +11th. On the 12th we moved on to Salisbury, remained there until the +17th, when the train took us to Smithfield. A march of 16 miles on the +18th enabled us to rejoin our corps near Bentonville. + + +OUR LAST BATTLE. + +During the Confederate Reunion in Atlanta, Ga., in '98, a man with +kindly eyes and grizzled beard approached me with extended hand and +said, "Do you know me?" His face seemed familiar, but I was forced to +confess that I could not exactly place him. "Do you know where I saw you +last?" I was compelled to admit that I was still in the dark as to his +identity. "Well," said he, "it was behind the biggest kind of a pine." +"Now I know you, Sam Woods," said I. That pine supplied the missing link +in my memory and furnished likewise a link in the present sketch. + +Our junction with Hardee's force had placed us again under Joe +Johnston--the same Joe whose displacement at Atlanta had perhaps as much +to do with the collapse of the Confederacy as the failure of Pickett's +charge at Gettysburg, the Joe of whom Bill Arp said he would walk ten +miles on a rainy night to look into his hazel eyes and feel the grip of +his soldier hand--the Joe of whom Capt. Picquet said, as he rode by us +on his mettled bay at the battle of Resaca, "Boys, I always feel safer +when that man is around"--the same Joe who, when asked by Col. Geo. A. +Gordon at Dalton how he managed to manoeuver an army in the woods in +battle, replied, "Well, Colonel, I have to depend largely on my corps +commanders; they rely on the Major Generals, who in turn depend on the +brigadiers, the brigadiers on the Colonels, the Colonels on the +Captains, but," said he, "thank God, we all have to rely on the private +at last." + +By 10 a. m., March 19th, the day after our arrival at Bentonville, we +were in line of battle, fronting a large part of Sherman's army. Our +regiment depleted by sickness and death and capture and possibly "French +leave" as we came through Georgia, had only a hundred men in its +ranks--the Oglethorpes only nineteen. We had no field officer and, as I +remember, only one captain, one lieutenant and an orderly sergeant for +the ten companies. At one stage in the fight that followed the orderly +sergeant was the ranking officer in the regiment. + +Soon after taking our position, near the extreme right of the line, an +assault was made by the enemy and was repulsed. About midday Gen. Bate, +commanding our corps, gave the order to advance. In our front and gently +sloping upwards for three hundred yards was an old field dotted with +second growth pines, and two hundred and fifty yards beyond its highest +point on the descending slope lay the Federal breastworks awaiting us. +Closing in to the left as we advanced, we passed over the bodies of the +enemy who had been killed in the assault and whose faces, from exposure +to the sun, had turned almost black. Reaching the top of the slope we +came in view of the Federal line and if our eyes had been closed our +ears would have given us ample evidence of the fact. The rattle of the +Enfields and the hiss of the minies marked the renewal of our +acquaintance with our old antagonists of the Dalton and Atlanta +campaign. Down the slope we charged until half the distance had been +covered and the enemy's line is only a hundred yards away. The "zips" of +the minies get thicker and thicker and the line partially demoralized by +the heavy fire suddenly halts. Frank Stone is carrying the colors +(Cleburne's division flag--a blue field with white circle in the center) +and he and I jump for the same pine. It is only six inches thick and +will cover neither of us fully, but we divide its protective capacity +fairly. Fifteen or twenty feet to my left there is an exclamation of +pain and as I turn to look Jim Beasley clasps his hand to his face as +the blood spurts from his cheek. + +My cartridge box has been drawn to the front of my body for convenience +in loading as well as for protection and as I look to the front again a +ball strikes it, and strikes so hard that it forces from me an +involuntary grunt. Frank hears it and turns to me quickly, "Are you +hurt?" I said I believed not and proceed to investigate. The ball +passing through the leather and tin had struck the leaden end of a +cartridge and being in that way deflected had passed out the right side +of the box instead of through my body. Thirty or forty feet to the right +the gallant color-bearer of the First Florida, whose heroism at Franklin +has already received notice in these records, is making his way alone +towards the breastworks at half speed, with his flag held aloft, fifty +yards in front of the halted ranks. Inspired by his example or +recovering from the temporary panic, the line moves forward again, and +the enemy desert their breastworks and make for the rear at a +double-quick. Leaping the entrenchments, a hatchet, frying pan and +Enfield rifle lie right in my path. Sticking the pan and hatchet in my +belt, I drop my Austrian gun and seizing the Enfield I see across the +ravine a group of the enemy running up the hill. Aiming at the center of +the squad I send one of their own balls after them, but the cartridge is +faulty and fails to reach its mark. We pursue them for half a mile and +the disordered ranks are halted to be re-formed. Capt. Hanley, formerly +of Cleburne's staff, calls for volunteer skirmishers and John +Kirkpatrick is first to respond. Turning to me he says, "Come on +Walter." The writer is not advertising for that sort of a job, but the +call is a personal one and not caring to let the boys know how badly +scared I am, I step out of the ranks. Will Dabney, though laboring under +a presentiment that he was to be killed that day, joins us, as do others +whose names are not recalled. Deploying and advancing through the woods +we are soon in range of the minies again. Lieut. Hunter, a little to our +left, is struck and tumbles forward on his head. Will calls out to me +that Hunter is killed, but he is mistaken. The lieutenant regains his +feet and finds that the wound is confined to his canteen. Advancing +further I find a lady's gaiter and a glass preserve dish dropped by the +enemy and probably stolen from some Southern home. Capt. Matt Hopkins, +of Olmstead's regiment, picks up a book similarly dropped, but does not +carry it long before a minie knocks it from his hand. The line of battle +follows in our wake but before it reaches us a ball strikes John Miller, +passing directly through his body, and he turned to the color-bearer and +said, "Frank, I'm killed." Frank replied, "I hope not John." The line +presses on and John lies down under the pines to die. In a little while +Frank is disabled by a wound in the side and turns the colors over to +Billy Morris. The regiment reaches the position occupied by the skirmish +line and under heavy fire we are ordered to lie down. Sam Woods and the +writer seek the shelter of a large pine and while kneeling together +behind it a minie passes through Sam's hand and thigh and he limps to +the rear. Advancing again, we are halted just before night by a pond +or lagoon in our front. A friendly log lies near its edge and we lie +down behind it. A Federal battery open on us and the color-bearer +of Olmstead's 1st Ga. regiment is knocked six or eight feet and +disemboweled by a solid shot as it plows through the ranks. As the +litter-bearers are carrying off another wounded man from the same +regiment he begs piteously for his haversack, which has been left +behind. They are under fire and refuse to halt. One of the Oglethorpes, +in pity for the poor fellow, leaves the protection of his log and +running up the line secures the haversack, takes it to him, then hastens +back to his position. + +Night comes on, the firing ceases and the fight is ended. We have driven +the enemy more than a mile, have captured a number of prisoners and have +suffered comparatively little loss. Of the 19 Oglethorpes only one has +been killed and three wounded, though thirteen others bear on their +bodies, clothing or equipment marks of the enemy's fire, some of them in +three or four places. Frank Stone, in addition to the wound in his side +and a hole through his sleeve, has a chew of tobacco taken off by a ball +that passes through his pocket. John Kirkpatrick has his canteen +ventilated, Sol Foreman and Will Dabney find the meal in their +haversacks seasoned with minies instead of salt, and the writer, in +addition to the demoralization of his cartridge box, finds a hole in +his haversack and thirteen in his folded blanket, all probably made by a +single ball. Relieved from our position in the line by Harrison's +regiment, by the aid of torches we find John Miller's body and near it a +naked arm taken off at the elbow by a cannon ball. Placing them on a +blanket, John Kirkpatrick, Will Dabney, the writer and another comrade +carry them nearly half a mile to an open field and give them as decent +burial as we can. + +War's casualties, alas, are not all counted on the battlefield. From +dread suspense that comes between the battle and the published list of +slain and wounded, from the wearing agony of a separation that seems so +endless, and the weary watching for footsteps that never come again, +they fall on gentle hearts in lonely homes far removed from the smoke +and din of musketry and cannon, not suddenly, perhaps, but sometimes +just as surely as if by deadly missile on the firing line. John was an +only child and far away in his Georgia home his stricken parents +rendered childless by his death, mourned in their loneliness for "the +touch of a vanished hand" until broken hearted they, too, were laid away +in the narrow-house appointed for all the living. + +On the following day the remainder of Sherman's army came up and two +divisions secured a position in our rear, but were driven back. A +regiment of Texas cavalry made a successful charge in this engagement, +holding their bridle reins in their mouths and a navy pistol in each +hand. A gallant son of Gen. Hardee went in with them as a volunteer and +was killed in the charge. Our division was not engaged, there being only +skirmishing in our front. Harrison Foster and Billy Morris were on the +picket line and under a misapprehension of an order of Gen. Bate, who +was riding over the line with his crutches strapped to his saddle, they +advanced to a point within close range of the Yankee trenches. Subjected +to a heavy fire, they took refuge behind a pile of rails. While lying +there Billy was struck in the face and the pain of the wound led him to +think that he was severely hurt. An investigation, however, showed that +a minie ball had shattered a rail and had driven a splinter into the +flesh. There was renewed skirmishing on the 21st, but as a company our +last gun had been fired. Johnston, finding his force of less than 20,000 +men too small to cope with Sherman's entire army, evacuated his position +on the 22d and retired to the vicinity of Smithfield. Here we remained +until April 10th, when under an Act of the Confederate Congress, the +army was re-organized. The numbers in each military organization had +become so reduced that it was found necessary to consolidate divisions +into brigades, brigades into regiments, and regiments into battalions. +The 1st, 57th and 63rd Ga. were merged into the First Volunteer Regiment +of Ga., the 54th Ga. forming a battalion. The Oglethorpes alone of the +ten companies of our regiment, retained their separate and original +organization. Lieut. Wilberforce Daniel was made captain, with Charles +T. Goetchius and Geo. W. McLaughlin as first and second lieutenants. +Lieut. A. W. Blanchard was promoted to the captaincy of Co. K, formed of +companies E, F, and G, and the writer, at Capt. Blanchard's request, was +made an officer in the same company, Will Dabney being also transferred +and given the position of orderly sergeant. I am glad to be able to say +to the credit of the Oglethorpes, that the consolidation not only failed +to reduce the rank of any of their officers, as was the case in other +companies, but that it resulted in the promotion of them all and in +addition to this another company in the new regiment was practically +officered by them. + +As soon as the re-organization had been completed we began our southward +march, passing through Raleigh and Chapel Hill and reaching the vicinity +of Greensboro on April 16th. Appomatox had become history, and a truce +of ten days was agreed upon by Johnston and Sherman, with a view to +ending the war. On the 17th and 18th rumors were current that the army +was to be surrendered and numbers of the troops left their commands, +unwilling to submit to the seeming humiliation. To stop this movement +Johnston issued an order informing the army that negotiations for peace +were going on between the governments, and on April 28th the terms of +the Military Convention, agreed to on the 26th were published. Lee's +surrender had shattered the last hope of Confederate success and a +prolongation of the struggle would have been a useless and criminal +sacrifice of life. + +A report of President's Lincoln assassination had reached our camp and a +number of us went over one night to the quarters of Gen. John C. Brown, +our division commander, to ascertain the correctness of the rumor. To +the question, "Is Lincoln dead?" he replied, "Yes, he's very dead." +"Well, General, what do you propose to do when you get home?" "I am +going to join the Quakers," he said, "My fighting days are over." On May +2d our paroles arrived and were signed up and on the 3rd we began our +march for Georgia, making the trip of 230 miles in 11 days. In evidence +of South Carolina's loyalty to the cause, even in its dying hours, I +recall the fact that while passing through its territory on our homeward +march, no man or woman refused to accept Confederate money for any +purchase made by us. Although then + + "Representing nothing on God's green earth, + And naught in the waters below it," + +in Carolina, at least, + + "Like our dream of success--it passed." + +Reaching Augusta May 13th, we divided the teams allowed us for +transportation and with one dollar and twenty cents in silver paid us at +Greensboro for fifteen months' service, we bade our comrades in arms a +tender and affectionate farewell, broke ranks for the last time, and +turned our weary steps homeward. + +The flag we had followed for four years was furled forever and the +Southern Confederacy was a thing of the past. + + +CONCLUSION. + +I would be doing violence to the expressed wishes of an old comrade and +messmate, one whose friendship for me was born at the camp fire, and was +strengthened and intensified by common hardship and danger, if I were to +close these records without adding a word in behalf of the cause for +which we fought. Were these four wasted years? Was the war on the part +of the South only a wicked rebellion, as our Northern friends have been +pleased to term it? + +Speaking only for myself as a humble unit in the four years' struggle, +and yet feeling assured that I fairly represent a vast majority of my +Confederate comrades, I can say that I never kneeled at my mother's knee +in childhood with a deeper sense of duty nor a purer feeling of devotion +than impelled me when, with her tear-wet kiss upon my boyish lips, I +left the old homestead to take my humble station under the "Stars and +Bars." I can say further that looking backward over the record of the +years, that Providence has kindly granted me, no four of them come back +to me with a deeper sense of satisfaction than those which marked my +service as a Confederate soldier. The convictions formed in those old +days of the absolute righteousness of the cause for which we fought have +only strengthened with the passing years. While the South failed in its +purpose to secure separate national existence I have never felt that in +the struggle it had anything to regret but failure. Despite the +tremendous odds against which it fought, despite the fact that it +entered the contest without an army, without a navy, without military +supplies, with the sentiment of its border States hopelessly divided, +and with the sympathies of the world against it, but for the loss of its +ablest Western leader in his first battle, it would not, as I believe, +have had even failure to regret. If Albert Sidney Johnston had not +fallen on that fateful April Sabbath when Grant's demoralized and beaten +legions were cowering under the river bank at Shiloh, he would, in my +belief, have duplicated in the West, Lee's victories in the East and +Appomatox and Greensboro would have had no place in Southern history. +Even in '64, if President Davis had heeded the appeals of Gov. Brown and +Gen. Johnston, of Howell Cobb and Joe Wheeler, Sherman's constant +apprehension during the Dalton and Atlanta campaign would have become a +reality. Forrest, the greatest cavalry leader of the war, and, in the +opinions of Lee, Johnston and Sherman, the most brilliant genius +developed by it, would have been turned loose on Sherman's rear; Atlanta +would never have fallen, Lincoln would have failed of re-election and +the "reconstruction" that followed in the wake of the war would have +been confined to the geography of the country, rather than to Southern +State governments at the hands of carpet-baggers. Lincoln expected such +a result and bent every energy to end the war before the peace sentiment +of the North could find expression in the election of McClellan. The +failure to utilize Forrest's genius in the destruction of Sherman's +communication, the removal of Johnston and the resultant fall of +Atlanta, turned the tide and the Confederacy was doomed. + +Defeat brought with it some measure of humiliation, and yet it is +pleasant to remember that our short-lived republic stands in history +today "without a blot upon its honor and with no unrighteous blood upon +its hands." With its territory scorched and scarred by a foe, in whose +military lexicon the word "humanity" found no place, the South struck no +blow below the belt. It fought with rifles, not with firebrands, and +made its war upon armed foes, not upon helpless women and children. It +had no brutal Shermans, nor Sheridans, nor Butlers, nor Hunters in its +ranks, but it is pleasant to know that it left to the world the legacy +of a Lee and a Stonewall Jackson, whose military record stands unmarred +by the faintest shadow of a stain and unparalleled in Anglo Saxon +history. While the North fought, not for the flag, not through sympathy +for the slave, but by the admission of Lincoln himself, just as surely +for commercial greed as if the dollar mark had been woven into every +banner that led its hosts to battle, it is a pleasant reflection that +the South sought only to free itself from an alliance that had become +offensive and dangerous to its liberties. And while Lincoln has been +canonized as a martyred saint, I am glad to know that Jefferson Davis or +Robert E. Lee would have suffered a thousand martyrdoms before they +would have penned a proclamation deliberately intended not only to +beggar a whole people but to subject innocent and helpless women and +children to the horrors of a servile insurrection. + +And so I feel assured that when in coming years posterity, unblinded by +prejudice or passion, shall give to all the claimants in the Pantheon of +Fame their just and proper meed, as high in purest patriotism as any +rebel that fell at Lexington or starved at Valley Forge, as high in +lofty courage as any hero that rode with Cardigan at Balaclava or +marched with Ney at Waterloo, or fell beneath the shadow of the spears +with brave Leonidas, will stand the rebel soldier of the South, clad in +his tattered grey, beneath whose faded folds is shrined the Stars and +Bars of an invisible republic, that lives in history only as a memory. + + +ROSTER OF THE "OGLETHORPES," 1862-1865. + +Co. B. 12th Ga. Battalion. Co. A, 63rd Ga. Reg. + +OFFICERS. + + Capt. J. V. H. Allen--Promoted Major 63rd Ga. July, 1863. + + Capt. Louis A. Picquet--Wounded May 28, '64, leg amputated. + + Capt. Wilberforce Daniel--Died in 1898. + + Lieut. W. G. Johnson--Died since the war. + + Lieut. *A. W. Blanchard--Wounded June 27, '64, promoted + Capt. Co. K, 1st Ga., 1865. + + Lieut. C. T. Goetchius--Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900. + + Lieut. Geo. W. McLaughlin--Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900. + + 1st Serg. *W. A. Clark--Promoted 1st Lieut. Co. K, + 1st Ga., April 10, '65. + + 2d Serg. *O. M. Stone--Promoted 1st Lieut. 66th Ga., '62. + + 2d Serg. J. W. Stoy--Captured July 23, '64, near Atlanta. + + 3d Serg. W. H. Clark--Promoted Asst. Surgeon, C. S. A., March, '63. + + 3d Serg. E. A. Dunbar--Promoted ensign, 1864. + + 3d Serg. R. B. Morris--Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900. + + 4th Serg. Jno. C. Hill--Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900. + + 5th Serg. S. C. Foreman--Wounded Jonesboro, Aug. 31, '64. + + Com. Serg. *W. J. Steed--Wounded June 27, '64, arm amputated. + + 1st Corp. *Burt O. Miller--Promoted Lieut. 47th Ga., May 5, '64. + + 1st Corp. Geo. G. Leonhardt--Wounded Atlanta, July 22, '64. + + 2d Corp. E. Thompson. + + 3d Corp. B. B. Fortson--Promoted ensign, died near Tuscumbia, + Nov. 6, '64. + + 4th Corp. *L. A. R. Reab--Captured at Kennesaw, June 27, '64. + + 5th Corp. J. H. Warren--Living in Virginia, 1900. + + 6th Corp. W. H. Foster--Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900. + + 7th Corp. W. H. Pardue--Wounded at Kennesaw, June 27, '64. + + +PRIVATES. + + *John Q. Adams--Wounded accidentally, Thunderbolt, July 12, '63. + + W. F. Alexander--Living in Oglethorpe Co., 1900. + + R. H. Allen--Living in Burke Co., 1900. + + J. K. Arrington--Living in Alabama, 1900. + + Philip Backus--Died since the war. + + C. T. Bayliss--Killed at Kennesaw, June 27, '64. + + Henry Beale. + + *Jas. A. Beasley--Wounded at Bentonville, March 19, '65. + + C. W. Beatty--Died of disease, Aug. 31, '63. + + *D. C. Blount. + + Thos. Blount. + + Geo. W. Bouchillon--Died since the war. + + Jas. W. Bones. + + Henry Booth--Wounded Peach Tree Creek, July 20, '64. + + *T. F. Burbank--Wounded near Kingston, May 19, '64. + + *W. W. Bussey--Wounded Huntsville, Aug. 11, '62, and Kennesaw, June 27, + '64. + + *J. L. Bynum--Wounded Atlanta, July 22, '64. + + Wm. Byrd--Living in Columbia Co., 1898. + + H. T. Campfield--Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900. + + Jno. A. Carroll--Wounded June 18, '64, died of wound. + + J. H. Casey--Wounded June 18, '64, died of disease July, '64. + + Andy Chamblin--Died since the war. + + W. L. Chamblin--Wounded and captured, Kennesaw, June 27, 64, leg + amputated. + + H. A. Cherry--Died since the war. + + H. C. Clary--Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900. + + E. F. Clayton--Transferred to 12th Ga. Batt., killed March 25, '65. + + W. A. Cobb. + + *J. R. Coffin--Captured, Kennesaw, June 27, '64. + + W. S. Coffin. + + W. C. Colbert--Died since the war. + + W. C. Corley. + + A. N. Cox--Transferred to 24th So. Ca., June, '64. + + H. C. Cox--Transferred to 24th So. Ca., June, '64. + + C. M. Crane--Promoted Q. M. Serg. 1st Ga., Apr. '65. + + Floyd Crockett--Died since the war. + + H. M. Cumming--Acting Asst. Surgeon 63d Ga., '64. + + M. B. Crocker--Died of disease in hospital July 20, '64. + + Miles H. Crowder--Wounded, Atlanta, July 22, '64, leg amputated. + + *Wm. A. Dabney--Wounded, Kennesaw, June 25, '64, promoted 1st Serg. + Co. K, 1st Ga., April 10, '65. + + Jno. B. Daniel--Living in Atlanta, Ga., 1900. + + John M. Dent--Living in Waynesboro, Ga., 1900. + + *Joseph T. Derry--Captured, Huntsville, Aug. '62, captured, Kennesaw, + June 27, '64. + + *Edgar R. Derry--Ordnance Serg. 12th Ga. Bat. + + Wm. F. Doyle--Died since the war. + + Wiley Eberhart. + + J. R. Edwards. + + J. L. Eubanks--Died since the war. + + R. R. Evans--Living in Atlanta, Ga., 1900. + + R. C. Eve--Promoted Asst. Surgeon, C. S. A. + + *W. R. Eve--Captured at Kennesaw, June 27, '64. + + J. L. Fleming--Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900. + + L. F. Fleming--Disabled in R. R. accident, July 5, '62. + + W. T. Flannigan. + + H. Clay Foster--Wounded, Atlanta, July 22, '64. + + J. A. Garnett--Died of disease, Atlanta, June 19, '64. + + Joel Gay. + + C. G. Goodrich--Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900. + + J. H. Goodrich. + + Jno. C. Guedron--Died since the war. + + Wm. Guedron--Died since the war. + + Jno. A. Grant--Living in Atlanta, Ga., 1900. + + S. M. Guy--Killed at Atlanta, July 22, '64. + + S. H. Hardeman. + + C. A. Harper--Died since the war. + + J. E. Harper--Died since the war. + + *Geo. A. Harrison--Captured, Kennesaw, June 27, '64. + + R. W. Heard--Wounded, Kennesaw, June 29, '64. + + J. T. Heard--Died since the war. + + W. M. Heath--Died of disease, June, '64. + + Geo. S. Heindel--Died since the war. + + B. T. Hill--Died since the war. + + H. L. Hill--Killed near Kingston, May 19, '64. + + A. M. Hilzheim--Fatally wounded and captured, June 27, '64. + + *V. G. Hitt--Promoted Asst. Surgeon in '62. + + H. W. Holt--Transferred to Co. K, 63d Ga., Aug. '64. + + John Hood. + + T. J. Howard--Living in Lexington, Ga., 1900. + + *W. T. Howard--Captured, Kennesaw, June 27, '64. + + F. T. Hudson. + + J. T. Hungerford--Died since the war. + + Theo. Hunter. + + J. H. Ivey. + + H. B. Jackson--Wounded near Dallas, May 27, '64. + + J. A. Jones--Living in Texas, 1900. + + W. H. Jones--Living in Columbia Co., 1900. + + M. S. Kean--Died since the war. + + Jno. C. Kirkpatrick--Living near Atlanta, Ga., 1900. + + Cephas P. Knox--Fatally wounded near Kennesaw, June 18, '64. + + W. T. Lamar--Living in Augusta, Ga., 1900. + + Frank Lamar--Died since the war. + + R. N. Lamar--Promoted Lieut. of Cavalry, Jan. 10, '65. + + E. H. Lawrence--Died since the war. + + J. W. Lindsey--Captured, Huntsville, Aug. 11, '62. + + D. W. Little--Died since the war. + + M. S. Lockhart--Wounded near Kennesaw, June 19, '64. + + E. J. Lott--Fatally wounded and captured, June 27, '64. + + T. E. Lovell--Died since the war. + + A. T. Lyon--Company bugler. + + A. D. Marshall--Captured, Kennesaw, June 27, '64. + + C. O. Marshall--Transferred and promoted Lieut., '64. + + Jno. T. May--Transferred to 12th Ga. Batt. + + J. P. Marshall--Living in 1900. + + T. W. McAfee--Living in Chattanooga, 1900. + + A. W. McCurdy--Wounded near Dallas, May 28, died June 12. + + J. T. McGran--Died since the war. + + *J. K. P. McLaughlin--Wounded, Atlanta, July 22, '64. + + L. H. McTyre. + + J. M. Miles. + + T. A. Miles. + + Jno. T. Miller--Wounded June 18, '64, near Kennesaw, killed + at Bentonville, March 19, '65. + + Wm. Megahee. + + G. T. Mims. + + *A. L. Mitchell--Wounded June 27, '64, at Kennesaw, arm amputated. + + Geo. K. Moore--Died since the war. + + *W. B. Morris--Wounded June 27, '64, Kennesaw. + + Geo. D. Mosher--Living in Savannah, 1900. + + St. John Nimmo--Transferred to Barnwell's Battery. + + A. J. Norton--Missing near Murfreesboro, Dec. '64. + + *H. J. Ogilsby--Wounded July 22, '64, Atlanta. + + *J. H. Osborne--Promoted Serg. Major 1st Ga., April, '65. + + F. C. O'Driscoll. + + Alex Page. + + S. A. Parish--Living in 1900. + + J. O. Parks. + + J. H. Patton. + + J. F. Phillips--Missing June 16, '64, died in prison. + + J. C. Pierson--Transferred to 5th Ga., June, '64. + + A. Q. Pharr--Died since the war. + + A. Poullain--Transferred to 7th Ga. Cavalry. + + T. N. Poullain--Died of disease Nov. 12, '63. + + Geo. P. Pournelle--Missing June 27, '64, Kennesaw, probably killed. + + Jabe Poyner--Living in Oglethorpe Co., 1898. + + R. A. Prather--Living in 1898. + + Joe Price. + + W. H. Prouty--Died since the war. + + W. H. Pullin. + + R. A. Quinn--Wounded July 22, '64, Atlanta. + + R. Quinn, Jr. + + J. T. Ratcliff--Died of disease Nov. 5, '64, Tuscombia. + + R. R. Reeves--Living in Columbia Co., 1900. + + *W. H. Reeves--Wounded June 27, '64, Kennesaw. + + Aaron Rhodes--Living in 1900. + + J. Z. Roebuck--Died since the war. + + Jere Rooks--Living in Richmond Co., 1900. + + Obe Rooks--Fatally wounded July 22, '64, Atlanta. + + B. F. Rowland--Wounded June 27, '64, Kennesaw. + + W. Radford--Living in Columbia Co., 1900. + + J. J. Russell--Living in Atlanta, Ga., 1900. + + A. M. Rodgers--Died since the war. + + Chas. Richter. + + J. B. Rogers--Died since the war. + + Geo. D. Rice--Died since the war. + + J. M. Savage--Missing in Tennessee, Dec., '64. + + W. N. Saye--Living in Atlanta, 1900. + + R. Stokes Sayre. + + P. A. Schley--Living in Richmond Co., 1900. + + J. L. Shanklin. + + C. D. Sellars. + + W. A. Sims--Died since the war. + + M. C. Smith--Died since the war. + + W. J. Smith--Wounded June 18, '64, near Kennesaw. + + J. T. Steed--Wounded May 15, '64, died of disease, Oct. 10, '64. + + -- -- Stevens--Died in '63, Thunderbolt. + + Geo. R. Sibley--Q. M. Serg. 12th Ga. Batt. + + A. W. Shaw--Died since the war. + + *F. I. Stone--Wounded March 19, '65, Bentonville, promoted + ensign, '65. + + F. M. Stringer--Died since the war. + + J. J. Stanford. + + Robert Swain--Transferred to Co. K, 63d Ga., killed + Sept. 3d, '64, Lovejoy Station. + + Jas. Sullivan. + + Elijah Stowe--Company fifer. + + Floyd Thomas--Captured June 27, '64, Kennesaw. + + J. E. Thomas--Died since the war. + + Whit Thomas--Living in Richmond Co., 1900. + + Jas. Thompson--Died of disease in '65, Montgomery. + + R. F. Tompkins. + + J. W. Tucker--Missing Dec. 1, '64, near Murfreesboro. + + Miles Turpin--Company drummer. + + *Geo. J. Verdery--Living in North Augusta, 1900. + + *Eugene F. Verdery--Wounded July 20, '64. Peachtree Creek. + + R. W. Verdery--Died since the war. + + J. C. Welch--Died of disease, Dec. '64. + + R. A. Welch--Living in Richmond Co., 1900. + + John Weigle--Wounded June 27, '64, Kennesaw, died of wound July 13. + + W. H. Warren--Died since the war. + + J. W. White--Died since the war. + + G. W. Whittaker--Living in Richmond Co., 1900. + + J. W. Whittaker. + + J. O. Wiley--Wounded July 22, '64, Atlanta. + + J. E. Wilson--Died Since the war. + + R. T. Winter--Living in Richmond Co., 1900. + + S. F. Woods--Wounded March 19, '65, Bentonville. + + H. Womke--Drowned April 18, '63, Thunderbolt. + + J. F. Wren. + + W. T. Williams--Died since the war. + + S. M. Wynn--Died since the war. + + -- -- Wynn--Died '62, Knoxville, Tenn. + + * In addition to those registered above as survivors in 1900, + those marked with an asterisk are known or reported to me as still + living. I regret my inability to secure a complete list of the + survivors. + + + + +ADDENDA. + + +OGLETHORPE INFANTRY, CO. B. + +When the Oglethorpes offered their services to the Confederate +government in '61 the married men in its ranks were, by a vote of the +Company, excluded from the enlistment except as commissioned officers. +After the departure of the Company for the seat of war the members, who +were left behind, effected a new organization and were known as "Co. B." +Their purpose was to organize for home defence, but in November, '61, +they were ordered to Savannah by Gov. Brown, and were assigned to the +9th Regiment Ga. State troops, then in process of formation. Gen. W. H. +T. Walker had thrown up his commission in Virginia because President +Davis had seen fit to take from him the brigade he had organized and had +assigned to its command his brother-in-law, Dick Taylor, who was +subordinate in rank to every Colonel in the brigade. Gen. Walker could +not brook what he deemed a pure case of nepotism, and on his return to +Georgia he was placed in command of the brigade of State troops, to +which the Oglethorpes, as Co. A, 9th Ga., had been assigned. The +Company, on account of their proficiency in the manual of arms and in +company evolution, became a sort of pet of Gen. Walker's and when his +quarters were visited by ladies from Savannah the Oglethorpes were +ordered out to drill for the benefit of his fair guests. Mr. Frank H. +Miller, who was a lieutenant in the company and afterwards adjutant of +the regiment, by Gen. Walker's appointment, relates a characteristic +incident that occurred during the General's service at Savannah as his +commanding officer. One of his men had "run the blockade," had spent the +night in Savannah and while hustling back to camp in the early morning +hours, was overhauled by the sergeant in charge of the guard at the +General's quarters. The soldier did not relish the idea of being placed +under arrest for his escapade and backing himself against a tree he drew +his knife and threatened to carve up any man who laid hands on him. The +noise awakened Gen. Walker, who was sleeping in a tent near by, and +rushing out en deshabille, he shouted, "What the d--l is the matter out +here?" The sergeant, who seemed to be suffering with a nervous chill, +stammered out, "He won't be arrested, General. He says he'll kill +anybody that touches him." The General rushed up to the man and said, +"Give me that knife, sir." The soldier handed it over with a smile on +his face and the General saw as he took it that the weapon was entirely +bladeless. Turning to the sergeant he said, "Turn that man loose. I +won't have any man arrested who can back out a whole guard with a knife +that hasn't got a blade in it." And the "blockade runner" went scot +free. + +In May, '62, their six months term of service having expired, the +company was mustered out at Augusta. A majority of its members soon +effected a re-organization for regular Confederate service and the new +company was ordered to Corinth, Miss., and for a time was assigned to +the 5th Ga. Regiment, then serving in the brigade of Gen. John K. +Jackson. Before leaving this camp the 2d Battalion Ga. Sharpshooters was +organized, under the command of Major Jesse J. Cox, of Alabama, and the +Oglethorpes became Co. C of that famous organization known in the Army +of Tennessee, as "Cox's Wild Cats." For the remaining years of the war +this battalion was identified with every movement and did gallant +service in every engagement of the Western Army. As "Sharp-shooters" it +fell to their lot to serve almost continuously on the skirmish line, +opening every battle in which their division was engaged. Transferred +from Tupelo to Chattanooga in the summer of '62, they took part in +Bragg's Kentucky campaign and at its close were stationed for a time at +Knoxville and then at Bridgeport, rejoining Bragg again in time to +participate in the battle of Murfreesboro, Dec. 31, '62. During that +engagement, at Gen. Polk's request, the battalion, with Jackson's +brigade, was temporarily detached from Hardee's corps and was sent into +the famous cedar thicket where they were exposed to the concentrated +fire of Rosecranz's parked artillery and lost half their number. Among +the casualties sustained by the Oglethorpes was the loss of their +gallant commander, Capt. E. W. Ansley, and the brave color-bearer of +the battalion, Edward H. Hall. Lieut. M. G. Hester succeeded to the +captaincy and the colors were given to Geo. F. Bass of the Oglethorpes, +who seem to have furnished all the ensigns for the battalion. During the +Kentucky campaign the colors had been borne by Corporal M. V. Calvin, +and after the transfer of Bass to another command, they were entrusted +to another Oglethorpe, Wm. Mulherin, who carried them with marked +gallantry until his capture at the battle of Nashville, in the winter of +'64. + +Through the battles of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, with Johnston +through the hundred days from Dalton to Atlanta, and with Hood at +Franklin and Nashville, the "Wild Cats" sustained their hard-earned +reputation as a fighting organization, closing up their soldierly record +with the surrender of Johnston's army at Greensboro in April, '65, at +which date Lieut. George P. Butler was in command of the Oglethorpes. A +number of the gallant survivors of the company are still living in or +near Augusta, among them, Orderly Sergeant Wm. K. Thompson, Serg. M. V. +Calvin, Corp. Brad Merry, Corp. W. H. Miller, Musician W. B. White, +Evans Morgan, W. H. Hendrix and W. D. Shaw. + + +SHIPS THAT DID NOT PASS IN THE NIGHT. + +Brad Merry's name recalls an incident that occurred at the Charleston +Reunion in 1899. Brad and the writer had agreed to make the homeward +trip together. On reaching the train I failed to meet him. The coaches +were crowded, but I finally secured a seat with a stranger, who after +the formation of a railroad acquaintance, proved to be Rev. T. P. +Cleveland, living near Atlanta. After a pleasant chat about our mutual +friends in Atlanta and elsewhere, I strolled through the train in search +of my friend Brad. Finding him in a forward coach, I chanced to say, +with no special reason for making the statement, that I had a seat with +a Rev. Mr. Cleveland. "What's his full name?" asked Brad, with a look of +interest. "T. P." I replied. "Tom Cleveland! Why there isn't a man in +the world I'd rather see. We were old schoolmates. Where is he?" Taking +him back to my coach I said, "Mr. Cleveland, here's an old friend of +yours, Brad Merry." The meeting was a very joyous one. As the glamour of +the old days came over them and with glowing faces and happy hearts they +talked of the long ago, a lady stepped across the aisle and said, +"Didn't I hear this gentleman call you Mr. Brad Merry?" "You certainly +did, madam," said Brad. "Why, Mr. Merry, I know you. Your battalion was +camped near my father's house for a long time and you and your comrades +came over nearly every evening and sang for us. We had mighty pleasant +times together in those old war days." Brad's smile reached from his +chin to the back of his neck as he grasped her hand and said, "I am +delighted to see you again. I remember you distinctly. Your father had +three girls, Virginia, Alabama and Tennessee." "Well," said she, "this +is Virginia," and pointing across the aisle to her sister, "there's +Alabama." The ride to Augusta was no longer tiresome or tedious. In the +renewal of their old time acquaintance and the revival of so many +personal memories the hours sped swiftly and when I left the train Brad +was using all his persuasive power to induce the entire party to stop +over at Berzelia and brighten for a time his Pinetucky home. + +They were strangers to me, but I enjoyed their happiness and was glad to +have been the unconscious instrument in bringing them together again. +But for the accident of my finding that special seat vacant, these four +ships would have "passed in the night," possibly to hail each other no +more until with wearied sail they cast their final anchor in the harbor +that lies beyond the sunset. + + +OGLETHORPE INFANTRY, CO. B. + +(Company A, Ninth Regiment Georgia State Troops.) + +OFFICERS. + + Edwin W. Ansley, Captain. + Frank H. Miller, First Lieutenant. + Thomas H. Holleyman, Second Lieutenant. + M. G. Hester, Third Lieutenant. + Ed. F. Kinchley, Commissary. + W. C. Sibley, Secretary and Treasurer. + G. E. Boulineau, Orderly. + G. W. Hersey, Second Sergeant. + S. A. Verdery, Third Sergeant. + Ed. E. Dortic, Fourth Sergeant. + W. A. Paul, First Corporal. + J. M. Weems, Second Corporal. + W. H. Frazer, Third Corporal. + James Heney, Fourth Corporal. + + +PRIVATES. + + Armstrong, Pat. + Bruckner, J. D. + Butler, G. P. + Barrow, Wm. + Bailie, G. A. + Butt, Wm. P. + Cheesborough, Wm. + Chenell, John. + Calvin, M. V. + Cress, J. G. + Cheesborough, C. M. + DuBose, Robt. M. + Davis, Jas. S. + Duvall, R. B. + Davies, John N. + Day, John H. + Fleming, Peter L. + Gartrell, Jas. M. + Glover, Wm. + Heard, Henry. + Henry, Jacob A. + Hett, Ed. + Hitt, Dan W. + Hubbard, Jas. C. + Jonas, Chas H. + Kerniker, Ed. + Kenner, Jas. H. + Lane, Lucius A. + Mulherin, Wm. + Marshall, Jno. D. + Merry, Brad. + Nunn, Tom P. + Norris, W. B. + Nelson, Tom C. + Niblett, Jas. M. + O'Hara, Thos. + Parker, Gustave A. + Phinizy, Thos. A. + Page, Alexander. + Richmond, H. P. + Roulette, Mike. + Shackleford, J. H. + Setze, Jno. + Shaw, Alfred W. + Simmons, R. R. + Smythe, Wm. W. + Stevens, Jno. + Samuel, Wolfe. + Shaw, Wm. A. + Tant, Wm. D. + Tuttle, Dan W. + Thomas, Wm. + Thompson, Wm. K. + Travis, Luke. + Tant, Alexander. + Verdery, Eugene. + White, Wm. B. + Wiley, Landly J. + Wingfield, W. J. + Woodard, C. B. + Wolfe, Mike. + Youngblood, Sam. M. + Young, Jas. R. + + +MUSTER ROLL OF OGLETHORPE INFANTRY, + +COMPANY C, 2D GA. SHARPSHOOTERS. + +OFFICERS. + + Captain, Edwin W. Ansley. + First Lieutenant, M. G. Hester. + Second Lieutenant, Jas. M. Weems. + Third Lieutenant, E. E. Dortic. + First Sergeant, Wm. K. Thompson. + Second Sergeant, Walter H. Frazer. + Third Sergeant, Geo. P. Butler. + Fourth Sergeant, Wm. A. Griffin. + Fifth Sergeant, J. D. Marshall. + First Corporal, W. H. Miller. + Second Corporal, Thos. O'Hara. + Third Corporal, Bradford Merry. + Fourth Corporal, M. V. Calvin. + Secretary, Henry P. Richmond. + Musicians, W. B. White, E. A. Young. + + +PRIVATES. + + Anderson, W. F. E. + Bruckner, J. D. + Bunch, G. M. + Bass, Geo. F. + Boddie, John S. + Boulineau, W. A. + Cheesborough, C. M. + Carroll, J. R. + Cleckley, A. + Duke, J. B. + Duke, John F. + Duke, B. F. + Duvall, R. B. + Duddy, Wm. + Epps, W. D. + Fowler, J. C. + Gardiner, H. N. + Gates, Wm. + Hall, E. H. + Hall, A. G. + Helmuth, F. + Hendrix, W. H. + Hinton, G. W. + Isaacs, Wm. + King, Jesse. + Kerniker, Edward. + Lamback, Geo. F. + Mulherin, Wm. + Manders, J. J. + Morgan, Evan. + Mathis, J. T. + Nelson, T. C. + Peppers, J. M. + Peppers, A. H. + Roberts, Chas. P. + Roulett, M. + Robinson, James. + Shaw, A. W. + Shaw, W. D. + Stephens, E. A. + Samuels, W. + Tobin, John. + Tant, Alex. + Talbot, J. M. + Taylor, Wm. + Tuttle, D. W. + Wise, T. C. + Wolff, M. + Young, J. R. + + + + +SUPPLEMENT. + + +As this is my first, and will probably be my last attempt at authorship, +in deference to the possibly too partial judgment of friends, I have +ventured to include in the volume two additional sketches in no way +connected with the memories, which precede them. Yielding to the same +kindly criticism I have added also a war poem, intended to perpetuate an +incident whose hardly paralleled pathos has not, I trust, been marred by +the poetic dress in which I have attempted to preserve it. + + +ONE OF MY HEROES. + +Personal courage, when from the lack of selfish ends, it rises to the +plane of real chivalry, has always met with willing homage from the +hearts of men. I do not know that hero-worship has entered largely into +my own mental or moral makeup, and yet for thirty years and more my +heart has paid its silent and yet earnest tribute to one, who in +unadulterated grit and innate chivalry was the peer of any man I have +ever known. I have called him my hero, but he was mine, perhaps, only by +right of discovery. I found him in a little Florida village in the +winter of '66. There was nothing in his appearance to indicate the hero. +No title, civil or military added dignity to his name. So far as I know +no stars or bars had gilded the old grey uniform he had laid aside with +Lee's surrender. He was simply plain Bob Harrison. Of his lineage or +earthly history I learned but little. I know that he was the son of a +Methodist minister who, some years before, had moved to Florida from +South Carolina, and who, by right of apostolical succession, was not +only a good preacher but a good fisherman as well. I know, further, that +in one of the battles in Virginia my friend had been shot through the +lungs and had been left upon the battlefield to die. + +The surgeons in their hurried rounds passed by on the other side, +declining to waste their time on one, who in a few short hours would be +beyond the reach of human aid. Despairing of any relief from them, he +had tied his handkerchief around his chest to staunch the life blood +that was ebbing away, and through the long, long lonely night had waited +for death or help to come. On the morrow the burial corps had found him +still living, and in the hospital he was nursed back to partial health +again. The press had placed his name among the dead, and far away in his +Southern home loving ones mourned for him until one summer's day his +feeble footsteps on the walk and his pallid arms about their necks +brought to their hearts a resurrection just as real as that which +gladdened Mary and Martha at the tomb of Lazarus. Of his service as a +soldier I know no more than I have written. My claim for him is based +upon incidents that occurred when the war had ended and his record as a +soldier had been made up. + +At the date and in the section of which I write the tide of lawlessness +that followed in the wake of war had not yet reached its ebb. During my +stay a party of toughs came to the village and for a week or more +terrorized the place. An effort was made to secure their arrest by civil +process, but from lack of nerve in the officers, or failure to secure a +posse, the effort failed and the gang was having its own sweet will +without let or hindrance. + +At this juncture Bob Harrison rode into the village one day from his +country home. The lady, at whose boarding house these men were stopping, +told him of their misdoings. He was living six miles away and had no +personal grievance against them. His wounded lung had never healed and +frequent hemorrhages from it had paled the color in his cheeks and +weakened a body none too strong when in perfect health. But the appeal +stirred the chivalry of his nature and he did not hesitate a moment. He +went to them and in vigorous English denounced their conduct as +ungentlemanly and dishonorable and told them it must stop. + +That afternoon a challenge came to him to meet them at a designated +place next morning to answer for the insult he had given. He rode in +before breakfast and at the appointed hour he was promptly on hand armed +with a brace of pistols and a bowie knife. For three hours he offered +satisfaction in any shape they chose to take it, and with any weapon +they might select, but his nerve had cowed them and the offer was +declined. Then he said to their leader, "You have been making threats +against my friend, Charlie P-- for some fancied wrong. He has a wife +and children to mourn him if he falls. I have none. I stand in his shoes +today and any satisfaction you claim from him you can get from me here +and now." The bully failed to press his claim. The gang soon left the +village and quiet reigned again. + +A short time prior to this incident a young lady had made her home in +the village--a stranger, without relatives or friends. A citizen of the +place taking advantage of her unprotected condition, began to circulate +rumors reflecting on her character. These reports reached Bob Harrison's +ears. She was bound to him by no ties of blood or special friendship, +but her helplessness was claim enough. He called on the author of the +slander and asked to see him privately. The man showed him into a room +and Bob locked the door and put the key in his pocket. "Now, Mr --," +he said, "you have circulated slanders about Miss --. She has no +relative here to protect her and I have come to put a stop to it. I +don't propose to take any advantage of you. I am going to lay these two +pistols on this table. You will stand with your face to that wall and I +will stand with my face to this. When I give the word if you can secure +a pistol first you are at liberty to shoot. If I get one first, I am +going to shoot. You have got to do that or you have got to sit down at +this table and sign a "lie bill." The man looked into Bob's eyes a +moment and said, "I'll sign the lie bill," and Miss --'s name was safe +from slanderous tongues from that day on. + +In neither of these cases did he have the slightest personal interest. + +His conduct was prompted solely by the chivalry of the man. He impressed +me as ordinarily one of the gentlest and mildest mannered of men and yet +I believe he would have led a forlorn hope to certain death without a +tremor. + +With the close of winter I returned to my Georgia home and over the gulf +of silence that has intervened since that spring day in '67, no tidings +have come to me of my friend, Bob Harrison. If he still lives my heart +goes out in tender greeting to him today, and if he sleeps beneath the +daisies I trust this little tribute to his worth will cause the sod that +lies above him to press none the less lightly over his manly heart. + + +BEN HILL AND THE DOG. + +A REMINISCENCE. + +Just fifty years ago in the unceiled, unpainted and largely unfurnished +rooms of an "Old Field School," holding a blue-backed speller in my +boyish hands, I sat with a row of barefoot urchins on a plain pine bench +and watched with sleepy eyes the mellow sunshine creeping all too slowly +towards the 12 o'clock mark cut by the teacher into the school room +floor. This primitive timepiece that marked the boundary line between +school hours and the midday intermission, known in schoolboy vernacular +as "playtime," was never patented, although it had the happy faculty of +never running down and never needing repairs. To the student of today +reveling in the luxuriant appointments of the present public school +system there may come sometimes a touch of pity for the simple methods +and the meagre equipment of the old field school, whose teachers in +addition to the inconvenience of having to "board around," were +sometimes forced to receive partial compensation for their work in home +made "socks." Such of my readers as may be disposed to discredit the +free and unlimited knitting of socks as a circulating medium for the +payment of school salaries, are respectfully referred to my friend, W. +J. Steed, for the historical accuracy of this statement. + +And yet--and yet, minimizing as we may the limited advantages of those +old school days in the '40's, and magnifying as we do the wondrous +advance in educational methods and appliances in all grades from the +kindergarten to the university, the fact remains that "there were giants +in those days" who seem to have no successors. Examples might be +multiplied both in our state and national life, but I give only two. The +places of George F. Pierce in the pulpit and of Benjamin H. Hill in the +forum and on the hustings have never been filled. It may be true that +Dame Nature requires after the production of great men a period of +repose and rest, and if my limited observation is not at fault she is +enjoying a good long nap. Whatever may have been the explanation of the +fact mentioned, the privilege of hearing these men in their palmy days, +of feeling the "cold chills" creep up the spinal column as they soared +to the empyrean heights of impassioned oratory, of losing consciousness +of time and place and environment under the magic spell of their almost +superhuman eloquence, furnished some measure of compensation for the +meagre advantages, on educational lines, of the last generation. + +The writer's first opportunity to hear Ben Hill occurred at Mount Moriah +camp ground, in Jefferson county, in the presidential campaign of 1856. +On the disintegration of the old Whig party Mr. Hill had aligned himself +with its residuary legatee, the American party, and was canvassing the +State as an elector on the Fillmore ticket. He was 33 years of age, just +in the rosy prime of a superb physical and intellectual manhood. I was +only a boy and knew nothing of parties or party politics, but I remember +that for three hours and more he held the rapt and untiring interest and +attention of that vast audience. + +At the close of the speech Major Stapleton announced that a messenger +had been sent to Mr. Stephens asking a division of time with Mr. Hill at +the former's appointment in Burke county, on the next day. Mr. Hill was +sitting on the pulpit steps, and when the announcement closed he said, +"Yes, I am not afraid to meet "Little Aleck," nor big Aleck, nor big Bob +added to them," alluding to Mr. Toombs. Mr. Stephens did not consent, +but met Mr. Hill afterwards at Lexington, Ga., in the same campaign. +Out of this debate grew Mr. Stephens' challenge and Mr. Hill's refusal +to accept it, an incident which had large influence in ending the reign +of the code duello in Georgia. + +Two years later I had the privilege of hearing Mr. Hill again in the +State campaign for governor. A joint canvass of the State had been in +progress, but after a few discussions Governor Brown found that he was +no match for Mr. Hill on the "stump," and he wisely cancelled further +engagements. In giving his reasons for such action he said that Mr. Hill +was too much of a sophist, that he could make the worse appear the +better cause, and to enforce the point he related the "pig and puppy" +anecdote, a favorite illustration with political speakers in those days. +In the speech I refer to, delivered at Covington, Ga., Mr. Hill gave his +opponent the benefit of a statement of the reasons he had assigned for +his withdrawal, with the anecdote included, and then with the smile that +always gave premonition of a happy retort, he said, "And now, +fellow-citizens, in this campaign I have made no effort to make anything +out of anybody but Mr. Brown, and if I have made nothing better than a +pig or a puppy it was the best I could do with the material I had to +work upon." + +Mr. Hill never employed the anecdote argument in his speeches, but if +used against him no man of his time or perhaps of any other time was +able to turn its edge more readily or more effectively on his opponent I +recall only one passage from the address and as it has not been +preserved in his published speeches I give it in illustration of his +style at that date. After disposing of his opponent and the State +campaign he turned his attention to national issues and in urging his +audience to resist Northern encroachments on their rights closed a burst +of impassioned oratory with these words: "Has the spirit of Southern +chivalry folded its wings for an eternal sleep in the grave of Calhoun? +Shall the breezes, which blow from the 'cowpens' where the infant days +of Jackson were spent, now fan the brows of a nation of slaves? Rise, +freemen of Georgia! Arise in your might. Shake off this Delilah of party +for she is an harlot and will betray you to your destruction. Arise! +drive back the invader from your thresholds, or like Samson of old, pull +down the pillars of the temple and perish in one common ruin." Its +effect upon the audience may be inferred from the fact that it has +lingered in my memory more than forty years. I heard Mr. Hill no more +until some years after the war. His nerve in putting an end to the +seizure of cotton by Federal agents in the South in '65, his "Davis +Hall" and "Bush Arbor" speeches and his "Notes on the Situation" had +given him the very highest place in Southern esteem and affection. And +then came his acceptance of an interest in the State Road Lease and his +speech at the "Delano Banquet," which placed him under the ban of +popular distrust and postponed the day when Southern character and +Southern history was to find its brave and complete vindication at his +hands in the halls of Congress. During this shadowed period in his life +I heard him several times in Atlanta, and on one of these occasions +occurred the incident which forms the title of this sketch. Chafing +under the criticisms and abuse to which he had been subjected he boldly +defended the consistency of his record and pointed proudly to the day in +'65 when the lips of every public man in Georgia were sealed except his +own. "And now, my friends," said he, "when the lion of military +government had prostrate Georgia in its cruel grasp, these men, who are +now decrying me, were hiding away in quiet places afraid to face him. +But when largely through my persistent efforts his clutch was loosened +and he was recalled to his den in Washington, the whole breed, + + Mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound, + And cur of low degree, + +left their hiding places and came out barking, not at the lion, but at +me, yelping, "Radical!" "Radical!" "Radical!" The words had barely left +his lips when a huge dog standing in the centre of the aisle, began +barking loudly and vigorously, with his eyes fixed on Mr. Hill. I do not +know that the speaker, in imitation of a certain minister's reputed +habit of inserting, "Cry here," at the close of the pathetic passages in +his manuscript, had inserted "Bark here" in his notes, but I do know +that the impromptu illustration fitted in so pertinently that the storm +of applause, that greeted it, would have lifted the roof if such a +result had been possible. For several minutes there was perfect +pandemonium. As the wave of sound rolled and swelled and rose and fell +to rise in larger volume than before the speaker faced the audience with +the shadow of a smile upon his face and when the last ripple of applause +had died away he said: "My friends, I meant no reflection on that dog." + +I have had the privilege of hearing Toombs, Stephens, Johnson and Howell +Cobb, the first two, a number of times. I claim no ability to make +intelligent comparison among these distinguished Georgians. But basing +an estimate simply upon their effect upon myself and upon others as I +have observed it, I should say that while in epigrammatic force, in the +ability to pack thought into limited space, Mr. Toombs had no equal +among them, yet in effective oratory, in the power to sway an audience +at his will, whether in the domain of ice-cold logic or in the higher +realms where only angels soar, Mr. Hill probably towered above them all. +The peroration to his appeal for the pardon of Wm. A. Choice had few +equals in all the range of English forensic literature. It has not been +preserved, and in the forty years that have elapsed since its delivery, +my memory retains but a single sentence, and with that I close this +sketch: "Even from the lips of the murdered man, a voice comes back to +us today, as soft as evening zephyrs through an orange grove and as +warm as an angel's heart. 'Forgive him, save him, for he knew not what +he did.'" + + * * * * * + + +THE REBEL CHAPLAIN AND THE DYING BOY IN BLUE. + +The touching incident recorded in the following verses occurred on a +bloody Western battlefield in the old war days in the '60's. Rev. J. B. +McFerrin, formerly of Nashville, Tenn., and now in Heaven, an able and +honored minister of the Methodist church, and for four years a +Confederate chaplain in the army of Tennessee, was the Christian hero of +this tenderly pathetic story. His untiring devotion to the sick and +wounded amid the dangers and hardships of camp and field are gratefully +remembered by his surviving comrades, while his gentle kindness to a +stricken foe, will be embalmed in the loving memory of every veteran of +both the "Blue and Grey." + + 'Twas evening on the battle field; + O'er trampled plain, with carnage red + The lines in blue were forced to yield. + Leaving their dying and their dead. + + All day 'mid storm of shot and shell, + With smoking crest, war's crimson tide + Had left its victims where they fell, + Nor heeding if they lived or died. + + And now the cannon's roar was dumb, + The "Rebel Yell" was hushed and still; + The shrieking shell, the bursting bomb + Were silent all on plain and hill. + + From out the lines of faded grey + To where the battle's shock was spent, + A rebel chaplain made his way, + On mercy's kindly mission bent. + + He kneeled beside a stricken foe, + Whose life was ebbing fast away, + And then in gentle words and low, + He asked if he might read and pray? + + "No, no," the wounded man replied, + "My throat is parched, my lips are dry," + And in his agony he cried + "Oh, give me water, or I'll die." + + The chaplain hurried o'er the strand + And in the stream his cup he dips, + Then hastening back, with gentle hand + He pressed it to his waiting lips. + + "Now shall I read?" he asked again, + While bleak winds blew across the wold, + "No," said the soldier in his pain, + "I'm growing cold, I'm growing cold." + + Then in the wintry twilight air + His "coat of grey" the chaplain drew, + Leaving his own chilled body bare, + To warm the dying boy in blue. + + The soldier turned with softened look, + With quivering lip, and moistened eye, + And said: "If you, in all that book + Can find for me the reasons why, + + A rebel chaplain such as you, + Should show the kindness you have shown + To one who wears the Union blue, + I'll hear them gladly, every one." + + In tender tones the good man read + Of love and life beyond the grave, + And then in earnest prayer he plead + That God would pity, heal and save. + + Above the "Blue"--above the "Grey" + Shone no Cathedral's lofty spire, + Yet I am sure the songs that day + Were chanted by an Angel Choir. + + The evening darkened into night, + The shadows fell on wold and strand, + But in their hearts gleamed softer light + Than ever shone on sea or land. + + And ere the wintry night was o'er, + Beyond the sunset's purpled hue, + The stars rose on a fairer shore + To greet the dying boy in blue. + + Long years have come and gone since then, + Long years the good man lived to bless + With kindly deed, his fellow men, + And then to die in perfect peace. + + And when in Heaven's eternal day, + They met before His throne of light, + There was no blue, there was no grey, + For both were robed in God's own white. + + * * * * * + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have been +silently corrected in this etext. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Under the Stars and Bars, by Walter A. Clark + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40973 *** |